Gift of the Protector: Radiant Heart
by Edge Feyera
Summary: The once bold line separating humans and Pokemon has grown dangerously ambiguous in recent times. With the entire world now on the brink of a second Great War, an unlucky researcher investigates a mysterious phenomenon - armed with the power of his Pokemon and his heart. Will they manage to prevent an impending catastrophe before it is too late? And is it already too late for her?
1. A Nightmare Echoed Through a Mirror

**Chapter 1: A Nightmare Echoed Through a Mirror**

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><p><span><strong>AN:**Please feel free to visit my profile if you would like to know the pronunciation of some of the fictional words and names created in this original storyline.

This is the third and final arc of the Gift of the Protector Series.

**Arc 1**: Fractured Unity, **Arc 2**: Pristine Embrace, **Arc 3**: Radiant Heart (You are here)

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><p>Darkness. The twilight hour grew ever more sinister with each passing stroke of a silver pendulum swaying to-and-fro across a marble-faced clock in the silent city's eastern square. She was alone. Shivering specks of moonlight from above tickled her pale skin. White as a patch of fluffy snow, the shifting moonlight bore a crescent moon's waning face while black rainclouds passed over Slateport's misty harbor.<p>

Like abstract designs etched into a frothy canvas, gloomy clouds concealed most of the night sky. Only the brightest of stars could shimmer through the felted blanket of amorphous sky; the hazy objects fading and reforming linking heaven and sea.

She was afraid. Terribly so. A sudden chill ran up her spine. Her pace hastened as she walked along the uneven cement of the park on her way home. Rising and falling, her lungs took in quick breaths of the icy moonlit air. Substantial yet effeminate exhalations were the only noises she could hear.

*SNAP!* She quickly turned to face the sound of a branch rustling in one of the nearby trees. Though it was the dead of night, she scanned the tree lines with the eyes of a Staraptor.

Not a shadow, not another noise. _"Wild Pokemon,"_ she thought, breaking into a brisk jog in fright. The persistent sounds of her heels clapping against the cement soon stopped as she darted into the tall grass adjacent to the path. _"I shouldn't have taken this shortcut back,"_ she thought mired in frustration. _"I only just moved here."_

She approached a large stone statute. Hesitating, her pace slowed. Amid all of the desire she had to continue on her journey home, she could not help but slow as she approached the large granite figure.

Sparkling with midnight dew in the hoary light of the moon, the enigmatic figure drew her attention. Like a magnet of shelter, she stepped against the chiseled stone, rubbing her trembling hands against its coarse façade.

Oddly shaped and in the filtering light from the only source above, she couldn't tell what it was or what it represented, only that it offered a degree of comfort to someone who had lost her way.

Wet grass bit at her exposed calves as the wind picked up. Perturbed, she pressed her back against the statue and looked back. Her breathing quickened. The entire park was empty, and the solar-powered lights lining the pathway had long since expended their daily collection.

"Okay," she whispered aloud to herself, "you can do this. You're not lost."

But as she ran her dainty nails nervously against the figure she leaned against, the creeping sensation returned. She felt as if she as being watched. Cruelly enough, she could not discern nor ascertain the source of the foreign feeling.

Like a tightly wound music box, her heart fluttered in the midnight air, each note of silent searching trying desperately to stabilize the ill atmosphere.

Panting, she fathomed what she could do. She had no Pokemon on her. The park was not normally patrolled by guards at night. A co-worker had told her that the path through Slateport Park would get her home in half the time. _"Well didn't that work out great,"_ she thought sarcastically. _ "Should have taken a bus back from work."_

But not even the bus-line ran past eleven. Working past midnight on a busy day, she was stuck taking the streets no matter what. She shook her head, trying to reorient where she was. _"I came in through the western gate; Michael told me the path to Savon's Ferry curved north and then east…"_

*Creeeeak! Squeak!* "AHH!" She ducked instinctually, hearing the flapping of Zubat wings overhead. Falling into a squat, she tucked her head between her knees, covering her neck with both her arms, lest they bite her. Luckily, the sound soon passed, as did the Supersonic hums emitted from the blind creatures' mouths.

*Pant! Pant! Gasp!* _"I just want to go home…!" _Troublesomely, she rose to her feet again, darting straight ahead into the inky blackness. She dared not look behind her. Running in a straight line through bushes and trees of all varieties, she eventually found her way to a metal gate. "Phew…! Thank heavens!" she said, grasping the icy bars with her delicate hands.

But the gate would not budge. Worse still, she could see the promise of civilization up ahead in the form of tall grey buildings, which stood fast, denying the ebony night the horizon.

She shook the bars, her flimsy gold armlet jingling loudly in the otherwise quiet park. Seeing no way to scale herself over the pronged fence, she gradually turned around, only to find the way back had grown pitch black as the sky continued to darken with the promise of rainfall.

"Dammit!" she swore, shaking the bars again in futile anguish. "…Let me out!" she said loudly, hoping a friendly ear would hear her pleading. "Please, somebody! I'm trapped in the park!"

However, there was no such listener on that dark night.

Gradually, she walked parallel to the grated fence, keeping an eye on the park where she had come from. She longed to see that mysterious statue to point her in the right direction, but the inky blackness from the canopy of trees had long since consumed the beacon of hopeful respite.

"SNAP!" The sound of a twig snapping from behind caused her to jump in terror. She dared not look back, praying the sudden noise was only her own clumsy misstep. As she continued to run, her curly hair bounced over her narrow shoulders with increasing recoil as the bun she wore loosened. Soon she felt the ribbon slip off, as if it were tugged right away from her head. With a jolt, she felt the frayed tips of her once soft hair tingle against her sensitive back. The bare areas of her back felt countless shivers as her hair waved back and forth between her top's tapered arm straps. Even in the dark night, the pasty seashell color of her top could be seen dashing through the cast iron bars. The snug fitting garment dangled beneath her waistline, where a thin leathery belt kept her knee-length skirt in place. With each less-than-graceful stride, her light lavender skirt kicked up higher into the blank night air.

Eventually, she reached a large gate with a padlock. She grappled clumsily in the dark, trying to locate the locking mechanism and escape to the dimly lit street ahead of her. Yet the lock would not give, only rustling and tinkering with each of her panicked stirrings.

"Oh no! It's locked…!" she whispered, afraid to admit that she might have to follow the path she had found back through the eerie park.

"Perhaps I can help you with that," said a man.

"AHHH!" Shrieking she spun around, grasping her slickened hands tightly on the metal bars behind her. "W–who are you…?!" she asked the darkness.

Slowly a shadowy figure emerged, his posture lean and trimmed. Masculine and steady, he gradually walked along the path towards her.

"Stay back…!" she ordered, blindly fumbling with her sweating hands on the gate's lock.

"Don't worry," said the man's voice. "I only want to help you."

She breathed out in hushed sigh of relief, "W–who are you?"

"Me?" The faint tapping from his jet-black boots signaled his continued approach. "I'm here to help you. Think of me as…your guardian angel." He suddenly paused, breathing out quickly, "Yes. That'll do nicely."

"Guardian…angel…?" she repeated, confused, and unsure of what the mysterious voice meant by that. "Umm…great…whatever." Warily, she inched away from the lock as his shadowed visage drew near. Stumbling, she fell off the path, rear first. "Ahhh!"

Breaking her fall, an invisible arm grabbed her, stalling her untimely plummet. His hand, gloved in a suede fabric, guided her wrist back up until she stood almost beside him. Though he was taller, his twisted ebony hair danced in front of his face, only revealing a faint pair of tight lips not far removed from a narrow nose. "Careful now…" he said. "Don't want to hurt yourself."

"T–thank you," she said to the stranger. _"Should I tell him I'm lost?"_

"It's okay. You took the wrong way home, didn't you?" he said craftily. "*Tsk, tsk*. Like a little Lostelle."

"How did you…?" She pulled away from his grasp.

Surprisingly, he let her go immediately. "I told you already who I am. I'm your protector. I'm here to protect you."

"Protect me?" she asked cautiously. "Protect me from what exactly?"

"There are plenty of things that could go wrong for a lost lady late at night."

"So," she hesitated, "you knew I was lost here?"

"Of course I did," he said. "You shouldn't be wandering out here all by yourself."

Feeling almost guilty, she replied, "I…I know. I'm sorry, I thought this way would take me home faster. A –"

"– A co–worker told you that, didn't he?" he said with a shake of his head, made obvious by the swaying of his bangs obscuring both his eyes.

"How did you…?"

"Isn't it obvious?" he asked her. Pushing her gently aside with an extended arm, he approached the lock. With a sharp "click!" the padlock snapped open. Then the unoiled gate squeaked loudly as it was forced opened by the man's shoulder.

"Okay…" she looked beyond his long sleeve and at the street ahead of her. "Thank you."

However, he said mysteriously, "Don't thank me yet."

"_What…?"_ she thought. But the prospect of being freed from the spooky park had her head coiled in a knot of emotion. "I appreciate it."

"You do…?" he asked, his thin frame gradually retreating back into the invisible embrace of the shadows.

"Wait!" she exclaimed. "Don't leave me! I still don't know how to get home from here!"

She saw his teeth reflected briefly in the hazy moonlight. "You don't?" he asked.

"No…" she admitted. "I have to get to Devon's Ferry."

"Hah. You're in for a rough time if that's the place you're looking for! You're all the way on the other side of town!" She wasn't sure how, but she could tell he was smiling beneath the wooly scarf entangling his narrow neck. "Of course… I know where Devon's Ferry is," he said rather slowly. "How would you like me to show you the way home?"

Shrugging, she thought, _"What do I have to lose?" _"Um… If it's not too much trouble. You see, I just moved here. I haven't found my way around the city yet."

"Oh," he said with a prolonged sigh. "I could tell you were not from around here." Again, the haunting air seemed to dance slowly around her as he stepped out of the park through the open gate. "Follow me. We're a lot closer than you'd think."

"Okay," she said trialing closely behind him. "Don't try anything suspicious!"

"Oh no; don't you worry," he replied with a twisted grin. Sinisterly, his slender fingers clutched tightly onto something well hidden in his overcoat's breast pocket. "Don't you worry at all…"

Once the shady individual had guided her down a series of empty blocks, she began to recognize some of the structures around her. Silently, she heaved a sigh of relief. _"Thank heavens…"_ she thought as they approached the light rose brick of her familiar apartment building. "Thank you for leading me home safely," she said. Yet the gratitude she gave him did not appear to resonate upon his sallow expression.

His pace slowed as he reached the steep stairs leading up to her apartment complex. Cloaked behind a mask of thick, ebony hair, he showed very few features. He only nodded while she hastily searched her small purse for her keys in the dim overhead street light.

"_Ah ha!"_ Grasping the boney key, she slipped it into the door's knob and turned. With a "click!" it opened revealing the warm lobby's interior. Feeling relieved, she turned around to thank the stranger again. "Thanks for–" But no one was there. "Huh?" She stood alone under the eaves of her building, the swaying streetlight overhead squeaking in the hallow wind. "–everything…?" _"Where'd he go…?"_ she wondered. _"I could have sworn he was right behind me…"_

*CRACK! SHHHCK-BOUWGH!* The deafening sound of thunder from above caused her to all but forget her mysterious escort. Quickly sprinting, she rushed inside and under the cover of the structure just as the rain began to pour down the dark eaves and onto the steep stairs.

She knew was well past the hours of the bellman whose name she could not remember. Walking down the hallway of the lobby, her blue eyes darted about at the various pictures faintly illuminated by the receded incandescent bulbs in the ceiling. _"What a strange night…"_

Not wanting to take the lift at this hour, as she still felt the uncomfortable sweat from before, she hastily climbed up the spiral stairwell to her room on the third floor.

Fumbling again with the bronze keys, she undid the lock with a quick turn and click. Opening the wooden door gave forth a scent of her perfume, a mixture of young Roselia petals and sweet Bellossom honey-dew. _"Home at last…!"_ she thought as her preferred scent wafted through the air.

Eagerly, she dashed to the mirror, taking her high-strapped footwear off along the way. Stumbling slightly, the thunderous storm outside persisted with belts of lightning that arched across the sky, illuminating her flushed room with white light.

Getting to the bathroom, she peered into the full sized mirror, sighing in relief. Some of her eye makeup had run off onto her pallid face, giving her the appearance of having two small bowls of charcoal beneath her azure eyes. Batting her long lashed eyes, she played with her cheeks, removing their rosy flush and revealing more of the pale skin underneath. "Phew…"

*CLAP!* Hearing a loud noise, she turned only to be confused by the sound of her door slamming shut. _"What…?"_ The echoing thunder eased her worries. "That was probably just the thunderstorm," she whispered to herself. "I need to get around to calling maintenance. They should really check my door's hinges…"

Turning back to face the mirror, a strange sight greeted her. She was still there, her slender build an undeniable sight. But she was more than merely a sight to herself, for over her left shoulder stood a shadowy figure. The same figure from before. A murky visage of a man! "Eep!" she yelped as the torrents of rain splashed outside the fogged window. Such raw terror overtook her, she could barely manage to cry out. "HELP!"

*SHHHCK-_**BOUWGH!***_ Another loud crackle of thunder separated the numbing sensation she soon felt and the slowed fall to the tiled floor. Everything had decelerated to a sluggish pace around her. As her body collapsed onto the hard floor, she barely felt any of the impact. Sharp tingling came from her neck. From the ground, she attempted to raise her hand up to her neck, only to feel the harsh grasp of the stranger's gloved hand once more upon her wrist!

"_AHH! Get off me!"_ she tried to scream, but her lips had frozen shut. Locked in a paralyzed vulnerability, she could only watch as the figure from the park approached her.

"Well, well. Isn't it dangerous to be traveling on your own, little Lostelle?" said a familiar voice.

"*Huff! Huff!*" she twisted and screamed as loud as she could, but no air would come out, no sound could be made.

"You're trying too hard," whispered the man. "Don't resist!"

"…!" Helplessly, she peered up into his mysterious eyes. Like two twinkling amber olives they drew in her gaze as he knelt down next to her collapsed frame.

"It's okay…" he said, twirling her delicate hair around one of his slender fingers. "I promise it'll be over soon." Oddly, she could not feel the familiar strain of concentrated pain as he tugged on her hair in a tight knot round his wrist. "There's no pain, right?" he asked her.

She could only gasp in horror as he straddled her in an unprecedented act of advance. "Please…! No!" Nevertheless, all of her earnest pleas felt upon silent ears. "Don't! NOOOOOO!"she hollered from beneath the crushing pressure boring into her chest.

The man, reached into his inner vest pocket, removing a thin set of square spectacles. Calmly adjusting the glasses on his narrow nose bridge so that they shielded his piercing eyes, he said faintly, "Don't worry. To worry is to be weak." Resting his hand on her exposed shoulder blade, he smiled. "It'll be over. It'll all be over soon…" he said methodically. "Soon, you'll be better…soon…"

"…!...!" Without a voice, she squirmed and twisted, desperate to break free from the mysterious paralysis. _"Let me go!"_ she desperately tried to call for , her earnest struggle became soon futile, as her limbs seemingly traveled far away from the control of her mind. _"AHH! NOO!" _The distant outcry to those fading limbs soon became lost amid a new, comforting sensation. _"Haaaahh…!" _A sensation of warmth, culminating in her heart. A flutter of excitement jolted her chest. Tingling, beckoning, it urged her to coo gently as the wonderful sensation continued to overtake. _"Mmm…! …N–no!" _Frozen her eyes were, and she could not avert her fixated gaze. Trapped, she was imprisoned in an utter hell. Countless beams of spectacular neon color and light danced around her living room. And yet as these brilliant lines of light she had never seen before continued to fill her room and her body with inexplicable warmth, she could not take her fearful eyes off of the man, wearing a broad grin, stroked the ridge of her neck in a tender motion. The delicate touch of his fingertips tickled at first, but as they rose along her neckline, the sensation soon became overwhelming.

"_Your body!"_ boomed a terrifying voice, resounding from deep within her center. With wicked shrills that seemed to capture the trembling pain of countless generations seemed able to shatter all remaining control she held over herself. _ "Your soul…your spirit…!" "—ARE MINE!"_

All was suddenly quiet. Someone was speaking to her. She couldn't understand his voice. She watched his lips closely. Had she seen that face before? She could not remember. She watched his mouth open and close, ejecting strange sounds into the air. Was this some sort of language he was using to communicate with her? She peered downwards, utterly confused by the feeling of being embodied once more. Something was incredibly odd about this vessel. It lacked the capability for power that she once held before her body was ravaged by the wicked deeds of the Cult of Ascension.

Instantly upon resorting to telepathy, she was thrust into the middle of the mysterious man's sentence. "… so long as someone remembers a name. …What is your name?"

"Celesta…" she whispered softly. She gasped at how the cool air felt warm against her chest, how the slightest inhalation filled her with unparalleled cordiality. Bringing her quivering hands to her lips, she marveled at the tenderness of her fingertips against her glowing red lips. Feeling their plump redness racketed a series of cascading vibrations, all of which shook her core with an urgent rush.

"Celesta…?" asked the man's voice. She could not recognize his voice; clearly she had never met the mysterious stranger before, as all forms of prior recollection had been suppressed by the searing scar on her chest. The handle appeared to be made of the same organic material that had cut through her cleavage. A collection of crimson shards held together by a silvery veins of liquid metal had penetrated deep within her. Its radiant glow seemed to pulse with the exact consistency of her internal heartbeat. She exhaled as ecstatic chills ran along her spine. The tingling sensation around her lips and other sensitive organs had subsided from the initial climax, but their mysterious echoes seemed to endlessly resound through this new body. Her eyes batted convulsively as she began to cough, and her lungs felt the rush of precious oxygen she had been long deprived of. Looking to her side, for a brief moment thought she remembered the man beside her, but it was too fragmented of a memory. _"Where… where do I know him from…?"_ she wondered. _"Who is he…? He can't be the goddess we meet after death!"_

"…There, there…" he said to her as heavy lids slid over her vision, fading her sight into a balmy warmth, "there, there, Celesta. You're alive, just as promised. Safely within a suitable vessel."

"_A…vessel? …This?" _ Hearing that made her heart jump with excitement. _"I'm here…? Where did the light go…?"_ she wondered in twisted curiosity. _"You…!" _She could not remember his name, or anything at all about his mysterious appearance – as he seemingly arrived out of the blinding white light she saw after experiencing death.

"Hmm?"

She could barely see him. But she could feel his retreating touch. _"You can really hear me…? I'm really real…? I'm awake? I'm alive?"_

"Of course you are," replied the man's somber voice. By now, she could barely distinguish the lines of his angular face through the growing haze of misty colors. "You've been excellently preserved."

"_Pre–served…?"_ she pondered, the emptiness of the skin she inhabited feeling strange and delightful. _"What…what does 'preserved' mean?"_

"Your consciousness was kept alive in the Dagger of Life. And beautifully so," marveled the man's voice. By now, his speech was only a faint static of syllables, dragged so distantly away from her by the anesthetic, she could no longer distinguish where the end of her horizon of perception was. "Angelus… The research was correct. But… I never dreamed this would be possible." he whispered.

Neither could she. From the rising pressure of her chest, to the delicately sensitive skin she felt so intimately connected to, everything had grown substantially closer to her. Save for vision, all of her senses felt heightened, as if on the edge of some miraculous new frontier of experience itself. _"What is this?"_

"Celesta…" said the invisible stranger. "This is your new life. This experience, this everything, is thanks to me. Your life is because of me, Celesta. I freed your damned soul from the Dagger of Life; _**in saecula saeculorum**_. The gates to your eternal prison are no more! This life is yours now."

"_M–my life…?!"_ she exclaimed, as if hearing the phrase for the first time. Indeed, the range of the man's voice sounded rather shallow, and echoed far above where she had drowned deep into a vast pool of sinking consciousness. _"But I am no longer one singular soul. No…not any longer."_

"Do not dwell on the imprisonment of the unholy dagger… Despite the challenges of your _**disiecta membra**_,I gave this life back to you… brought you back from the Cult of Ascension's infernal prison within the Dagger of Life. I severed your soul from the dagger's eternal grip, prevented it from gnawing on your soul along with the souls of countless other creatures like yourself…Gardevoir. But now, you must do something for me in return. _**Quid pro quo**_, my dear Celesta – a favor for a favor."

"_What…what is it?" _The urge to guard and protect took her by surprised, and she squinted in an attempt to see who it was that requested her aid. However, the air was still thick with a strange burgundy miasma of swirling clouds and traveling lakes of tears. She reached her hands up to try and find his voice, desperately looking for the source of that promised purpose. That promise. That duty to protect. That task to save what mattered in this finite existence. That mission to guard that which was most treasured to her heart. That goal to unify two hearts into one. _"What must I do for you…?"_ she thought with urgency.

Though she could not see it, she felt his smile. The way his narrow cheeks retreated in pleasure. "All that I want, Celesta, is to be together with you. …Forever."

"…_!"_ The surge of ecstatic pleasure was nearly unbearable. The sheer thought of sharing her life with that of another made it impossible to resist the sweeping fantasizing. _"You… you want that?"_

She felt something tickle her ear. The dangling cartilage felt less warm than she was used to. But the sound was as crisp as ever. And as he spoke she retreated into her own shocked trance. "You…that's all I want Celesta…! That's all I need…!"

The broiling warmth in her chest had tightly surrounded her entire body, everywhere she felt the delicate pins of wonderful sensation. From the silky fine tips of her hair, to the tiniest of her toes, everything about her body roared with excitement.

"*…Gasp…! …Gasp…!*" on the verge of losing control, her knuckles tensed into tight fists, which soon exploded into open hands which she threw high into the air in an exotic yearning. _"Take me!" _*Gasp!* _"Please, take me with you!"_

Settling his cool hand on her fevered forehead, he rubbed the palm of his hand against her face, now flushed with uncontrollable and restless scarlet. "I can't…"

His refrain drove her into a flux of delirium. _"…Why?!"_

"I want you to take me back… I need you to take me."

At this her heart leapt. _"A way to be together…!"_

"Yes." She sensed his nod. "A way for us to be together…permanently."

"_But…how….?"_ she initially wondered, but the growing sense of an indomitable spirit soon overtook her. It no longer mattered how slim the odds were, just that there was a chance…indeed, a second chance…was enough for her. _"Can this be happening…?"_ She knew better than to question it, for the experience itself was immaculate.

"I want you to remember one thing, and one thing only. If you want to be whole again, if you want to experience your life with all of its newfound pleasures, then you must bind your heart to mine! You must join your heart with my own! You must become my avatar, together; we must take back this wretched world!" She squeaked involuntarily at the sound of the mysterious man's passion. Her excited eyes, longing for a taste of his zeal, glowed a bright crimson with a blend of awe and curiosity. Little by little, her vision began to glisten with shapes and colors, forming tiny kaleidoscopic patterns at first, and then morphing into discernible shapes.

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><p>--

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><p>"AHHH!" screamed a frail young man, as he tumbled down from where he had been soundly asleep. Not much past his twenty-first birthday, the Pokemon trainer with rich, coppery–auburn hair grumbled as he gingerly rubbed his sore elbow. A loud "thump!" from hitting the floor had quickly startled him awake and out of the bizarre dream. Quickly, he gazed around, and the dark mist seemed to vanish as his piercing eyes scanned the cabin. Luckily he'd broken his fall from the mattress. "*Ooh* ouch, dammit!" Grunting, he tried to sit up. Although half-delirious and still slightly rattled from his unexpected fall, a single expression was all it took to bring an irresistible grin to his sallow face.<p>

"…!"

Straightening his posture by grabbing one of the bedposts, he forced a smile back.

"_Where are you going?"_

The telepathic message had barely left her puckered lips before he was awash in a scarlet flush. "Sanaria…!" he exclaimed.

"_Are you okay, Feyera?"_ she asked. Peering down, she tried to help him off the moving floor with both her hands. _"You look like you've just seen a ghost."_

Steadying himself, the young Pokemon trainer firmly grasped her quivering hands. "It's okay… Was only a dream…I think."

A worrisome squint of her deep cherry wood eyes seemed to echo the Gardevoir's growing concern. _"You've been having a lot of those recently. Haven't you?"_

"Yes," he replied with a shrug. "I…I dunno why. There's been a number of recurring dreams."

"_Dreams?"_ asked the Gardevoir.

"Yes," he said nodding to her anxious expression, "I can see events happening, but they don't make any sense."

"_You're getting your memories back!"_ she squealed excitedly. _"Isn't that wonderful, thas Feyera?"_

"No!" he said firmly, still holding tightly onto both her hands. "These dreams… these nightmares… they can't be real… No! They can't be real memories! That would mean…"

"…_?"_ She looked quizzically at him.

"It's been disturbing me a great deal, Sana. I've only recently come to terms with who I am, and then suddenly these inexplicable dreams flood my mind at night?"

Hugging him closely with embracing arms, her glowing crimson heart danced above his own with each one of her quivering breaths. _"Y–you told me that you would be happier this way…"_ Gasping, she clutched the glowing crescent. _"I thought you would be–"_

"No, Sana." Shaking his head, he retorted with a seemingly benign growl, "I told you that this was my mission. I never said it would be easy. …You didn't have to remain by my side after we escaped Evercrest."

"_But you… but Seph…"_

"Sana," he addressed her with a surprisingly serious mien. "I told you already: I may have gotten my memories back, but at what price…?"

"_Thas Feyera!" _she exclaimed with a rapid shake of her head. _"It's not your fault! You're just as much innocent as you're guilty!"_

"…" Seeing her mint-green hair flop around with urgent concern, he tried to dissociate. Tried to look away. Tried to escape from her radiant eyes – penetrating his very soul. "Was it worth it…?" he asked rhetorically. "The sacrifice he made for my sake…twice. It just doesn't make any sense. Why would Seph do that?"

"_Don't be silly!"_ she chastised. Her pale cheeks flushed rose at the mere mention of her mate's name; it had been a long time since he had said his name without a tinge of bitterness from being seemingly cursed by the Gardevoir. _"This is what he would have wanted!"_

"Who?" Feyera asked jadedly. "Who are you talking about Sana? Your mate? …Or my potential father?"

"_Thas Feyera," _unsteadily she continued, _"there wasn't a choice, was there?"_

"Of course there wasn't a goddamn choice!" he said, fighting back the urge to expose his feelings. "Fredrick died so that we could escape! If not for him, we would both be dead! I thought he was evil, and mind-controlling me with his wrist collar. I lost faith in him. But I was wrong. Oh, so very wrong… *sigh* Sana, in the end all Fredrick wanted to do was save me from what happened to his daughter…Dee Aldaine was someone I actually had a chance with!"

"_*Pfft* as if you even had a chance with that Lorelei-girl!"_ she snipped.

"It's not even that, Sana. Don't you see? I had a future. However vague, at least it was something! And now all I have left are shambled memories of the past!" On the verge of letting frustration consume him, Feyera quickly realized that she already knew what he felt. Gardevoir could project their every emotion upon another, and the Psychic powers went both ways. She knew exactly how he felt at this moment.

"…" With a protracted sigh, she shifted herself off the mattress and closer to her seated companion. Swinging her thin legs off the bed, she deftly adjusted herself, taking only a moment to reposition her silk-like gown over previously exposed skin. _"Thas Feyera?" _she asked.

"What?" he said, holding his head down in disgust. He squinted his eyes tightly until the pressure began to hurt the fair skin of his forehead.

"_It's all going to be okay. I promise. We're together again. Nothing can sever our hearts." _

However, the discussion of Gardevoir anatomy (and in particular their crystalline hearts) failed to intrigue the young Pokemon researcher. Though he had spent countless years of education to earn a doctorate in bioinformatics at the prestigious Pokemon University, all of those memories –all of that education – was not worth what he now felt in his heavy heart. "Sana…" But, just as the gravity had begun to swell and weigh his spirit with the awful remorse of inadequacy, he felt a delicate finger dancing along the ridge of his heart. Almost mesmerically, her warm palm graced the edge of his very existence, all with a delicate precision.

"_I promise I'll protect you." _Relinquishing he grasp on his chest, she impishly rubbed her smooth hands along her crystalline heart. _"Your heart is my heart now." _

Feyera shook his head. "Sanaria, not even you can protect me from my past…I've created an assortment of unnatural beings. It will only be a matter of time before my research catches up to me. Do you really think you can protect me from the unknown horrors of genesplicing?"

"_Maybe not,"_ she said telepathically, nodding at the heart crystal embedded in the researcher's sternum. Then she grinned playfully. _"But I can protect us, thas Feyera; that's what I promised to do, isn't it?"_

"Why do you always have an answer to everything?"

"_Call it a hunch,"_ she giggled,_ "besides, human behavior is oh so predictable." _

"Ah…" Stretching his lanky arms he replied, "I know… that's why I'm afraid. 'Us' implies me. Us implies this second heart, a new part of me. Psyonics, all their blessings and curses are here to stay; I'm not sure how human I am at this point."

Cutting him off with a tight pout, she insisted, _"The heart is hard to translate. It has a language of its own. It speaks in patters and sighs. It listens to prayers and proclamations. …At least, that's what I've felt." _

Anxiously, he grappled with his thoughts, muttering, "If I could only fix this… for both of us."

"_You already have,"_ she said adamantly. A glint of light from the rising dawn caused the grey sea beyond the window to jump to life with fantastic color.

"Have I?" he wondered airily.

"_Mm." _ Nodding, she brushed her wavy bangs back. _"Even the smallest of gestures, resonate in a dynamic language."_

"It's a language I haven't learned," admitted the young man. "No offense, but most of the archaic words you use aren't recognizable to me."

"_Well, with all of your education, learning shouldn't be a problem!"_ she nudged his wilted shoulder with one of her petite elbows.

"True, but I'll never belong on either side. Human or Pokemon. The rest of my life is going to be a learning experience."

"_Well, I want to be there with you." _

"You do?" he asked the slender Gardevoir beside him.

"_Of course! " _Closing her cherry-wood eyes behind her heavily lashed lids, she nodded. _"Besides, I enjoy learning about the world almost as much as you do. With you…through you."_

"Sana…?" He pawed her jawline with a quivering hand. Touching her pale skin seemed to steady every tremor in his body. The warmth of her tiny breaths became alarmingly soothing. Everything felt as if it had finally found a place. "Are you sure you want to learn from someone like me?" he asked her. "After how much I've hurt you in the past?"

"_I do. The past stays in the past." _Feeling her face flush with pinkish warmth, she whimsically added, _"Think of this as my turn to 'do research'. After all, human gestures can be so terribly obscure and confusing! You cry when you're sad and when you're happy?!"_

"Hmm." His narrow lips hid a smile. He knew how easy it was for a Gardevoir to deconstruct details and discern what a person was feeling. In fact, he had been on both sides of that avenue. Regardless, Sanaria was being sincere; her keen interest in humanity's various quirks and mannerisms happened to surpass that of some humans! "Right. We're in this together," he answered affirmatively.

"_I don't see how there'd be any other way, thas Feyera,"_ she said with a roll of her shadowed eyes.

"Sanaria?" he asked moving close to her. "You know, I've been wondering: what does 'thas' mean anyway?"

"_Oh… that means –"_ she shook her head, wildly waving her bangs in the process. _"Ah… it's just a silly saying. Heh… Heh…" _

Smirking jokingly, Feyera pressured her with a nudge to the shoulder. "Aw c'mon, tell me!"

"_Since when were you so interested in Gardevoir culture?"_

"Since –" he paused briefly thinking back to the grisly research he had been a part of in the name of theoretical biology "– since I've had a desire to work with Pokemon. *Sniff* As a researcher." Sana appeared to be unperturbed by the swelling puffiness beneath his emerald eyes. "Before I committed my crime. Before I tore you away –"

"_Shh. Shh." _She quickly hushed him with a small finger from her raised hand. _"– Is this really how a human feels? I find it so strangely similar to my own emotional inflection."_

"I–" he stared to say, but his glance quickly caught hold of her reclined body. Though as much of a Gardevoir as any (a member of species _**Angelus Curator**_ according to his previously published scientific dissertation), he could not help but notice her effeminate – and indeed, fragilely human – qualities. Her silken garment's shoulder straps, laden slightly off kilter, wrapped her thin body in a delicate position. With a subtle pat, he adjusted the thin shoulder strap, hearing her purr faintly from the contact. Transferring sensation straight through and unimpeded, her clothing naturally amplified potential sensory intake: having an exponential effect on the species' emotion-based Psychic power. A shiny, rubicund crystal – emerging from a thinly cut slit in her clothing – divided her two small breasts.

"_And…this…right now, this feeling, this selfish attraction; is this how a human girl feels?"_ she asked pointedly.

"I wouldn't know," he answered truthfully. "What are you getting at by asking that?"

Looking out the nearby window – which was heavily fogged with the dew of the Southern Sea of the Sevii Islands – Sana straightened her already slender posture and asked, _"I… I wonder sometimes. It's just – every once in a while – I don't only see your heart like I did before. …I see you. I see what you are."_

"Well, that's nice," he said frankly. "– hate to disappoint you, but I'm nothing but a freak now thanks to my doctorate research. There's"

Immediately she knew what he was frustrated about. She didn't need to be a Gardevoir to see his eyes dart downwards to his chest, searing with a sharp, metallic crystal.

"_No,"_ the Gardevoir paused for but a moment,_ "I'm sorry, that came out wrong. I see what you stand for. That's who you are." _

"Well now, Sana, –" Feyera tightened the wide straps on a traveler's style leather vest "– '_WHO I AM' _ seems to be the Million Pokédollar Question now, doesn't it?"

She couldn't help but smile as he fumbled with the jacket's suede dyed straps. Rather loose and oversized, it barely reached below his Smith and Salven's Pokéball belt holster. A recent Pokemon trainer, originally on a quest to aid Professor Oak in his field research, Feyera was hardly an Ace Trainer by any definition of the word! His journey had already been long, and as a result, he wore a seemingly ceaselessly tired expression. _"You don't have to be Doctor Christian Feyera the scientist. You're a whole new you. A 'thas' – erm – 'Mister' Feyera. Can't you at least entertain the idea that there isn't anything you need to completely understand?" _

"A fair deal of academics suggest otherwise, Sana. Life is full of mysteries, and I – as a subject – happen to be a very big one!"

"_Happen to be what?"_ Sana asked with a snigger._ "An academic or a mystery?"_

"Both actually," Feyera said. "I suppose it's the mystery part that bothers me though. I want to solve it. Don't you?"

"_Life's a mystery with many parts. *sigh* If you will it so that your life is about what you feel; your passions eventually become part of you." _Sanaria glanced down at Feyera's scarred chest._ "…Even grow to define your identity." _

"You really… uh … you really think so?" What had begun as a snide remark wound up expressing a great deal of interest. Feyera said half endearingly; his posture mellowing at the very mention of identity. Such a concept had been the very goal of his entire Pokemon journey!

"_Mmhmm." _She waved her willowy arms in the air cheerfully. _"All that's left is to spread your wings and fly!"_

"Humph. You're certainly one to talk," he said gruffly.

"_Heh–he!" _Laughing, she rolled onto her side with a sequel of chuckles. _"You're still embarrassed about me coming to your rescue? I promise I wasn't trying to fool you by tracing Levitate! And, *sigh* even if I was… what you told me when I rescued you was really sweet." _

"Listen," he said as sweat continued beading on his forehead and cheeks "– please keep what I said between you and me."

"_Oh, is that so!"_ she exclaimed. With a wink she said, _"If that's the case, then your little 'angel' isn't going to try to embarrass you…"_ She lifted up her shoulders in a theatrical shrug. _"…too much!"_

"I–I didn't know you could trace abilities; all we ever talked about was my synchronize ability. I mean, c'mon Sana, how could I have known you'd Trace Weezing's ability and hover to my aid?" Feyera said. He didn't need to run a Battle Sim. to figure out Gardevoir's psychokinetic powers; he'd gotten plenty experience of their battling prowess firsthand. "You know, I may be an intermediate trainer, but my five Kanto Badges have nothing on that strategy you managed to pull off back on the island."

She grinned wildly at the praise he was giving her. _"Heh! Is that so, thas Feyera?"_

"Gah," he jolted as she danced her delicate fingers on his ebony collar. "Can't you simplify the praise without making me feel so damn uncomfortable?" he asked as she pulled away slightly. "Sheesh."

"– _Didn't you promise to quit trying to justify yourself?"_ asked Sana._ "…I appreciate what you said to me. I never felt something so strong before. And from a human. …Then again, you're not really fully a human anymore." _

"Hang on, Sana, what I mean is –!"

"–_I know what you mean, thas Feyera; I can feel exactly what you mean, because I can feel __exactly__ what you feel."_ Sanaria pinned her hands lightly down on top of his shoulders. _"Our hearts are bound together! Remember?"_

Silently, he lowered his fair-skinned palm to the center of his chest. And the moment he felt contact with the slim crystal embedded in his sternum, the Gardevoir at his side instinctively shut her eyes in an irresistible gasp of stirring contemplation. "Huh? You really can feel all of that? All of the time?"

"_Y–yeah,"_ she answered with a furtive peer out from between her dangling bangs. _"Everything, thas Feyera. That's why we need to stay together, no matter what."_

"You know what?" he asked twirling her fine hair around his index finger. "For the first time, I'm actually okay with that."

"_But that doesn't mean it's going to be easy, thas Feyera."_

"I know. That's why we're doing this together."

She grinned happily and pecked his cheek. _"…Close together!"_

"Say, Sanaria, you've gotten good at changing the subject. Must be spending too much time with me."

"_Mm–"_

He pulled away from her "–but you haven't answered my question yet! What do you mean by the prefixes 'veh' and 'thas'?"

"_It's…well, it's…a saying…"_ she said shyly stumbling over how to explain the terminology to a human being. _"…just a little saying. Mmm. Nothing really…"_

Such cautious reservation was a side he had not yet been exposed to. "A saying huh?" he said gliding his hand through her warm, silken hair. "Well, what's it mean?"

"_It's hard to explain, veh Feyera; Gardevoir have a culture that's very complex – the heart itself is very difficult to translate, it sometimes has a language of its own."_

"– Whoa! Hold on, wait up; what's that all about?" Feyera pouted. "Suddenly I'm 'veh Feyera' again? What's the deal with that, Sana?"

"_N–no,"_ she shook her head. _ "Please don't take offense. It's extremely personal to call you 'thas' anything. Especially __my__ thas."_

"YOUR thas?" he asked, his pitch rising in perked earnest. "And here I was thinking I was the possessive Pokemon Trainer."

"_First of all, I don't approve of humans enslaving Pokemon to do their bidding!"_ she said pouting and crossing her thin arms in protest.

"Well Sana, didn't you just categorize me as 'not really being fully human anymore'?" Feyera smoothly replied. The constant shaking of the floor made him sit his back against the cedar bedframe. "Also, quit trying to change the subject! That's my job!"

"_Alright! Alright!" _she said as if tickled by his words. _ "Give it a rest silly! It's only a little verse!"_

Feyera nodded. "Okay, why don't you translate it for me?"

"_You can't translate it, silly. No words or language can fully express feelings." _

Disagreeing with her, he quickly retorted with a scoff, "Oh yes, suuure. Which is exactly why humans speak with words and not telepathy."

"_Have you ever been at a total loss for words? Speechless with emotion?"_ she interjected.

"Hmm." He nodded carefully. "You have a point. I didn't have much of a choice when the psyonics overtook me in the past."

"_When all you're taught cannot compare anything to the feeling; nothing could describe it in any audible language. It would be like begging for a language that never existed before."_

"Pah, even infants can do that!" Feyera derided. "Besides, language is incredibly useful."

"_Language is just a low branch on the tree of understanding. Humans seem to like it a lot."_

"Don't diminish humanity just because you don't fully understand us. You seem keen on learning how to speak. I'm surprised your vocal cords can even work after eons of evolutionary dependence on telepathy."

"_Actually, I'm really interested in learning your language. I like annunciating your more passionate expressions a lot." _ She used her hand to make an obscene gesture, chuckling aloud at Feyera's surprised reaction. And his reaction was by all means warranted. Obviously, Sanaria wasn't a human. On the other hand, she had the desire to pretend to be one. More interestingly, Sanaria's growing knowledge of Feyera's female fancies – such as Lorelei Carese – through his dreams, allowed certain expectations to become a pseudo-reality. Granted a soft murmur or coo hardly had the potential to be misinterpreted, but there were many other subtle human acts to help express pleasure. Although Sanaria's vocal cords were underdeveloped due to Gardevoir relying mostly on telepathy or psychokinetic-empathy in order to communicate, she had been practicing by mimicking him occasionally. It was actually surprisingly easy for her to do. She picked it up fast by using humming, laughter, or other audible sounds to supplement the speech. Each time she spoke made the bizarre nature of their mutually dependent relationship even more confusing. Why she did this was a mystery to the young man, but he did not dwell long upon it.

"Okay, well here's the deal: if you want me to teach you the language of voice, then you must provide a favor to me in return!"

"_Anything,"_ she said happily nestled against his side.

"Let's start with what 'thas' means. Looks like we still have a long way ahead of us." He looked over at the control panel. The Southern Sea of Kanto had been so calm that he had almost entirely forgotten that they were on Lorelei's yacht, traveling to Johto in order to meet up with a rustic apricorn-crafter named Kurt. The ARMOS-guided computer monitor above the steep cabin windows provided a dim light. The sea beyond was pitch black. Thankfully, the pair had made it halfway to their destination without encountering any other ships. It could have been the residue from Cipher's Phaeton missile, but oddly enough the yacht was functioning perfectly fine. Perhaps Admin Ein's Solaris Shield generated by Magneton had protected the Prima from the electromagnetic pulse. Either way, the two unlikely travel companions would face a myriad of challenges in their journey to stop Cipher from taking over the world with brutally powerful Shadow Pokemon. How were they making them? How were they controlling them? These were paramount questions in young Feyera's mind, but he kept his heart and mind focused on the final mission Fredrick had given him. On one hand, it was the only thing that should have mattered to Feyera. And yet, having Pokemon by his side seemed to change everything about how he once perceived the world.


	2. Union of Ancients and Moderns

**Chapter 2: Union of Ancients and Moderns**

* * *

><p><span><strong>--**

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, on Citadark Isle, somewhere well beyond the Orre coastline's horizon…<p>

"Admin Eldes, situation critical!" echoed a computer terminal. "Mercurium has ceased to spread through the host's circulatory system. XD–001's heart has stopped beating. Specimen is entering cardiac arrest."

"Damn!" cursed the tall man with long hair as fiery and red as his temper. Flexing his hand into a tight fist from under the cover of his baggy sleeves, he ordered in a stern voice, "Give me a readout on X.D.'s status!"

"Specimen XD–001… report: critical mass reached, progenitor injection sites are no longer yielding logarithmic increases of Mercurium in the specimen's bloodstream."

Eldes nervously rubbed his forehead. He peered over the railing, down at the vat containing the embryotic creature, stories below the main command booth. "Have we reached equilibrium?"

"Partially. The shadow aura has failed to maintain stability and yet the artificial metabolic hold from the nanotech continues to yield residual energy, animating the corpse of Lugia. However, XD–001's response to stimuli is significantly delayed."

"Incredible…" whispered the man. From his vantage-point he could see the legendary beast twitch – something seemingly impossible seeing as Eldes had witnessed the creature's demise firsthand. "Computer, contact my brother immediately, he needs to see these figures. Even if XD–001 is little more than a Parasect–Zombie, these animated results far exceed our expectations for preliminary tests on the Lazarus Pokemon! Admin Ein was correct about the buried Mercurium being the key to life after death."

"Sending message… *beep!* error! Admin Ardos is returning from Hoenn; however his com link has been self-severed."

"Ardos! Irresponsible as usual! Can't the fool even keep a damn radio turned on?!"

A violent blast, followed by a massive tremor nearly knocked Eldes over. "…! What the hell was that, computer?!" Eldes asked the terminal in a panic as the entire base shook from a distant explosion. "Status report!"

"Calculating… calculating… mapping offshore cipher base – *ding!* anomaly detected! Warning, fatal base breach in sector one!"

"WHAT?!" shouted Eldes. "They're coming in through our front door?! Get me an image on screen!"

"Negative. Exterior security cameras have been compromised by the explosion's blast."

"This is the worst possible timing for an insurrection!" Eldes took one last look at the strangely floating Lugia below. "I take it they made it inside?!"

"Affirmative, admin. Internal base sensors are not responding. Last reported message from the mainframe: bulkhead number two has been breached."

"Dammit to hell, they're coming in fast! Whoever it is, they've caught us completely off-guard," Eldes fumed. "Activate the central alarm; send out our peons to neutralize the situation immediately!"

"Negative, Admin Eldes. The mainframe has been hacked by the intruders. System has lost control of the central terminal's core processor. All digital messages have been restricted to this single local platform."

"That's impossible! Only the Verichs know the base's tri-layer security codes!" Eldes shouted, quickly turning his attention to the green screen displaying a map of the Cipher compound. "Computer, get me some kind of visual on screen! *Huff!* I WON'T FAIL MY FATHER IN HIS ABSENCE!"

"Affirmative, Admin. Sonar ping initiated. Scanning for motion… scanning for– *ding!* short wave radar has two figures rapidly traveling down the central corridor towards our position."

"I can see that," he said with a hot temper, glaring up at the round radar screen with piercing eyes. Steaming, Eldes quickly darted to the room's makeshift armory, a bulky metal cabinet containing various RAIL–class weapons Cipher had illegally received from Silph Co. "Well, if it's a fight they want, then it's a fight they'll get!" *CLICK, CLICK!*

"Full breach of our base is imminent. All defense systems have been remotely disabled."

"_But how…?" _Eldes' palms were sweating as he clumsily hoisted up two ion guns from their respective shelves. One of the weapons was significantly larger than the other, but what the other one lacked in strength it made up in ammunition. Typically, RAIL guns were used to kill unruly Pokemon with a focused ion burst. However, extremely powerful Pokemon could deflect the energy, and right now, Eldes was completely unsure of what type of adversary was heading his way. What if his experimenting with Shadow Pokemon was discovered? Surely, the international police would kill him first, and ask questions later. He clutched the barrel of the large gun, aiming it at the steel door – the only way in, and the only way out of this command room.

However, as Eldes prepared to face off against whatever force had the audacity to invade Cipher's base, a strange ringing in his ears made him scream in pain. He dropped both his weapons, trying to cover his ears and protect himself from the otherworldly screeching. "ARGH! …What's going on?!"

"System compromised," answered the terminal over the deafening high pitch entering the room. "System compro– *rrrrrzzzz* …fatal error."

What Eldes saw next nearly broke his mind. The solid steel door, claimed to be able to stop a rampaging Tyranitar, suddenly warped in on itself. The metal buckled from the seam of the closed door, bending into a sphere of black matter which had penetrated past the last defense. Scrambling, Eldes tried to pick up his RAIL weapon, but as soon as he palmed the cold ion rifle's grip, it grew immensely heated. Screaming out from the terrible burning sensation, Eldes managed to fire a single shot in the direction of the door. *KA–WHOOM!* went then RAIL gun, flooding the dim command center with light. The piercing bolt of energy seared through the air, blasting a massive hole in the nearby wall. Unable to deal with the weapon's tremendous level of expelled heat, Eldes dropped the ion gun to the ground. He had missed.

"Brother, my brother, our brother," came an unnatural voice from beyond the hole.

"Ardos?!" exclaimed a surprised Eldes. "ARDOS, IS THAT YOU?!"

"Correct," answered the voice of another man. However, Ardos' voice contained an eerie resonating tone that seemed to pierce directly into his brother's mind. Eldes could not explain it, as it was something completely different from what Eldes had remembered from growing up with him.

"Show yourself, brother!" Eldes ordered, coughing from expelled smoke. "It's not like you to be this reckless!"

"Of course, _my dear brother_." As the dust began to settle, the metal door was clearly no more – crumpled up like a piece of paper into a tiny orb.

"Huh?! What are you doing?" Eldes asked in alarm, seeing the silhouettes of two figures. The admin assumed they had been the intruders, but he had a strong feeling that something about the situation was clearly wrong. "How did you do that?!"

"_Calm." _As if reading his fears, a strange amalgamation of speech and telepathy answered, _"Your brother and I, we are here to assist you in ways you cannot even begin to comprehend."_

"What?! Ardos, I thought you said you would be out of my hair for the next month. Why did you come back? ARDOS! Why would you try to destroy the base our father built…?"

With little more than a blank nod, Ardos' gaunt expression faintly acknowledged the mention of their father, the Cipher Grandmaster. "Father…" mouthed his thin lips. "I…"

"_Excellent questions,"_ a separate voice answered, _"and accompanied by a clear emotion of familial love."_ It was clearly a female's voice, but there was no sound echo, the words seemed to be inserted directly into Eldes' head. _"This is truly delightful to behold!"_ echoed her enthusiastic thoughts.

"Who are you?!" Eldes asked. "What have you done to my brother?!"

"_Tsk!" _Obscured from settling dust, Eldes could only see her figure raise an arm, wagging one of her fingers in deceptively benign chastisement. _"Unfortunately for you, we have some questions which take precedent."_

Gasping, Eldes recognized his brother standing where the metal door had once been. Ardos was a tall man, much like Eldes. He wore a stoic expression which had contrasted Eldes' feverish passion since the two were young boys. But this new expression worn by his brother… there was something terribly off about it. Never before had Ardos been silent to his brother's questions, and now the only speaker was a frail young woman at his side. He briefly wondered whether the two were romantically involved, but quickly dismissed the radical thought. Ardos had his heart broken too recently, the laboratory researcher he had fallen for completely broke his heart, and Ardos had grown to bitterly resent love of any sort. "What have you done to him?"

Leaning against Ardos, she was close to his imposing height. Her light hair, lean body, and tattered clothing made her more mysterious than anything he had ever seen before. A prominent red crystal jutted out from her bust. The white button-up shirt she wore was torn, revealing stains of dried, crusted blood on both her breasts. _"You say you are dear Ardos' brother, and yet you still dabble in man's technology, as if expecting to find some result which has not already been witnessed by those who walk this planet."_

"'Those who walk this planet'?" Eldes repeated in hallow fear. "You're not human…no human speaks like that… Tell me: what are you?"

"_We are union of souls …Celesta. Orchestrated together in the symphony of death, we are the instrumentality of Legion's Occult."_

Eldes stammered, "L–legion?"

"_As a mere mortal you are blind to your own multiplicity, seeing one life as separate from another." _ Lifting her lanky arm off Ardos' shoulder, she began to approach, crossing her legs as she walked in devilish ambition._ "Oh how I yearn to open your eyes to the truth I have witnessed through death and rebirth. There is no divide, and through joining our spirits together, we become stronger with each addition." _ Smiling, she beckoned Ardos. _"Your brother learned this the hard way. He brought me back into this realm, and in return I granted him his sincerest wish – he is united to my spirits."_

"No!" Eldes' knuckles turned white as he clenched his hand into a tight fist. "Let my brother go! This is madness!"

"_It is a folly to address your master with such a tone,"_ Celesta chastised, her pace quickening towards him. _"Tell me, mortal; is death not your true master?"_

"No!" Eldes responded from his gut. "This cannot be!"

"_Silence! You know nothing of death's soul–binding embrace!" _The woman quickly raised her slender fingers under his chin, lifting Eldes' head up, and exposing his neck to her sharpened nails. Her eyes had lost any human color they once had, as they were two glistening orbs of red, with dilated black pupils at their centers. The roots of her hair had begun to grow a pale green, contrasting the original shade of the rest of her locks. She made a strange humming noise that tickled his vocal cords, but he dared not move from her paralyzing grip.

"Ardos…" whispered Eldes as his voice began to involuntarily shake. Her dainty nails caressed his adam's apple. "A–Ardos, please; h–help me!"

"_Tsk tsk."_ Celesta shook her head. _"There's nowhere left to hide, mortal creature; I know your heinous crimes. Look around! Through creating Shadow Pokemon at any cost, you ultimately sought to command death. But death makes for a poor servant. Such foolishness was to be expected from Ardos the Younger of the Verich twins, but I did not expect this level of irrationality from Eldes the Elder."_

"Then it sounds like you don't know Admin Eldes well enough!" shouted a voice from behind her. "HIYA!"

Turning to face the unexpected sound, Celesta released Eldes from her grip, causing him to collapse to the ground with a *thump!*. While Eldes had hoped the mysterious opponent was his brother, he was surprised to see a Cipher Peon charging into the room. Weakly, he tried to warn the man, "N–no, she's too strong! Save yourself!"

"Go, Mightyena!" shouted the nameless peon. A flash of light illuminated the dim room, and a deep rumbling came from below.

"_HAH! A challenger approaches us! One who uses the evil of the Pokéball to subdue his Pokemon thrall! HAHAHA!" _she laughed in an eerie pitch._ "Mark my words; we'll soon see who is slave and who is master!" _

"Mightyena, use Crunch!" ordered the nameless grunt. "A woman doesn't stand a chance against a Pokemon attack!"

With demonic swiftness, the hyena pounced in Celesta's direction. "MIIIIIGHT! AWOOOH!" it howled trying to masticate her in any way possible.

"_HAHA! A Dark Type?!" _Celesta scolded, her voice echoing with voices from countless souls she had laid to waste within her core. _"Foes such as yourself are ill suited to combat a Faery Matriarch!"_

"A matriarch?"

"_Psychic dimensional rift!"_ Celesta ordered her body. Effortlessly, she rose high into the air, expending a massive amount of psychic energy to render herself weightless and out of Mightyena's reach.

"Mightyena, use Assurance!"

"_Pah, I do not fear the Dark Type!" _ Celesta twirled daringly through the air. Orbs of pink light filled her outstretched hands. She leaned back, raising her tattered crystal shard to the sky; the uneven piece of anatomy glowed with such incredible heat that it began to shimmer and glow. _"Perish, impure soul! Dazzling Gleam!" _The barrage of light-filled spheres smashed into Mightyena, knocking the creature belly up. The creature whimpered, as the creature was bathed in Celesta's emanating brilliance.

"Mightyena! NO!"

"_And now, the crescendo of our faery of power is complete! MOON BLAST!" _ Soaring above Mightyena orbs of brilliant light circled around Celesta like rapidly orbiting moons. With a pounding psychic sonic boom, the revolving spheres launched from their controlled paths, their target now clear. In an instant, countless satellites of Faery energy spheres exploded against Mightyena's shaggy fur all at once, silencing it.

"AH! Mightyena!" screamed the peon. He tried to recall Mightyena to its Pokéball, but being deceased, the frozen creature did not respond to the Pokéball's drawing laser. "NO!" Realizing his Pokemon was soundly defeated, he turned around to run.

"_You're only delaying the inevitable embrace of death. HAARRGHH…! LET YOUR FEAR FUEL MY PASSIONS!" _Celesta gasped, raising her effeminate arms to the sky. _"Delusional is your lost blood, for the soul persists – waiting, searching, breathing in a new air in a world of chaotic life! ARGHHH! AHHHHHH!"_

Rapidly revolving rings shot out from the woman's crystal core. They twirled and mixed like rivers of blood, reaching out in every direction. Her eyes had focused on her target, and the beams of energy ripped free of their orbits. Trying to turn around, the energy wave cascaded into the peon's right arm. The magical pulse instantly disintegrated his limb into nothing but a cloud of red air. The last expression he wore was one of mixed fear and despair as the rest of his body melted into a cloud of swirling rouge dust. However, Celesta was not through yet, her eyes glowed with the lust of true power, the ability to bend the laws of life and death was in her hands alone. She smiled as the swirling dust gathered into a whirlpool streaming toward her heart. With a loud cry of ecstasy, she released the swirling remnants upon the limp Mightyena. The creatures paws twitched and quivered. The dead Pokemon opened its once menacing eyes and revealed an ominously blank expression.

"_Look at you now," _said Celesta as she gracefully lowered herself back to the earth._ "A soulless body is nothing but an empty shell – such abnormalities are ripe for soul manipulation."_

Eldes could not believe his eyes. In total awe, he mouthed a faint, "Holy shit…!" limping towards the computer terminal as Celesta approached her new pet. If he could only release the latch on XD–0001's vat! Eldes, panicking, approached the main computer, out of breath. However, his heroic motions were soon frozen by a supernatural force tugging on the back of his neck with the incredible strength of a Machamp. _"Where do you think you're going?" _With a burst of telekinesis, Eldes was thrown up into the air, landing on his back. Celesta now stood next to Ardos and an animated Mightyena. _"Don't you desire to learn the secrets of Shadow Pokemon, dear brother Eldes?"_

Eldes strained to lift his head off the cold tile floor. "You created the abnormality which you speak of!"

She smiled. _ "It is an anomaly which obeys. A Shadow Pokemon has lost its heart. The soul is indefinitely imprisoned in my core, and the remaining spirit is guided by hatred and vengeance."_

"What are you saying?"

"_Consider the technology of ancients, feeble human,"_ the woman let out an exaggerated sigh._ "The Apricorns you humans developed years ago. And now these petty, spherical orbs – Pokéballs – they exist because humanity sought control over nature. Now that I have been awoken, nature's chaotic beauty will control once more! As Fae, we are nature, and all life answers to nature's mighty call!"_

"Wait!" Eldes pleaded.

"_Hmm?" _Placing her hand on her hip and petting the expressionless Mightyena at her side, she asked, _"What is it, mortal?"_

"You speak of generating Shadow Pokemon with your powers?" Eldes asked, thinking about the process by which the Cipher Team had attempted to resurrect an obedient, powerful Pokemon.

"_Indeed, I can speak from experience – the process of sealing a soul is irreversible, and yields a powerful thrall cursed with a permanent seal upon its heart." _She tilted her head towards the howling beast before her. _"Together, we shall use this power to inherit this realm from the greedy claws of humanity. You have defiled the world with your inventions, and now a price must be paid."_

"You can't though! There are more than a million people on this planet; you'll never overtake them all, even with your witchcraft!"

"_It is not witchcraft," _she laughed whimsically. _ "It is merely the manipulation of life-spirit, not unlike how the ancient Mercurium injected into your test subjects alters their genetic code. When one soul ends, another must begin, as this is the law of nature. Mankind has forgotten this precious law. Man's hubris, his flailing desire to save himself from death led to the development of the very technology that will herald his demise."_

"No…that's impossible."

"_Maybe for a mortal; maybe for one who has not yet been hugged by death's icy embrace. Such an experience is as you humans say, 'eye-opening'. For you know relatively little about the realm you exist in, and even less about the undead realms of the Fae. Death has revealed truth to us: once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. Your brother supports us, Eldes. Join us, and you will be spared from the fate that awaits the spawn of man for enslaving the Fae's kin!"_

"S–someone will stop you! You won't get away with this!" Eldes stammered, trying to make up for his unfortunate position. "I don't know what planet you think you're from, but here, Pokemon are under human dominion!"

"_Heh." _Celesta raised a taunting brow. Her invisible psychic tendrils had already begun to seep into Eldes' ears. He could not see their thick, pulsating branches, but the pain-ridden expression on his face confirmed that she was infiltrating his mind. _"Are you suggesting that you will not join our greater cause, dear brother Eldes?"_

"ROT IN HELL!" Eldes belted in agony. "You are not my brother, demon-spawn!"

"_Maybe I'm not him, but can't you see? Your brother…he is a part of us. Ardos has joined something greater than his conscious self could have ever fathomed."_ Like a determined military general, Celesta advanced with commanding prose._ "His dreams will be realized; those selfish goals to control Shadow Pokemon will be realized through my power, and conducted through the will of the Fae!"_

"NO! ARGHH! STOP!" Eldes screamed, turning his head from side to side, asphyxiating from the psychic web thrusting into his mind. "MERCY!"

"_Mercy? We do not know the meaning of the word, dear brother."_


	3. Enduring Ties of Soul and Spirit

**Enduring Ties of Soul and Spirit**

* * *

><p>A gust of frosty, crisp air blew through the young man's auburn hair as he opened the cabin's squeaky door. With a quick step, he walked beyond the threshold and onto the sea vessel's deck. Dew from the morning fog covered the narrow floorboards, making the exterior of the Prima slippery and slick.<p>

There was a soft murmur from behind him, however he paid it little mind. With a determined stride, he walked towards the bow of the ship. With a stern glare, he gazed off into the distance, and his emerald eyes seemed to shimmer at the first sight of land. _"We finally made it,"_ he thought to himself silently. It was a sublimely peaceful scene; the only sounds coming from the steady drone of the ship's engine and the breaking of waves against the recently refurbished hull. "Unbelievable–" he said aloud to the Johto peninsula appearing to rise high above the horizon, having to catch his breath as a tremendous array of color splashed over the canvas of his this beautiful dawn. The lofty peaks of Union Cave were like low-laying clouds of indigo, looming ominously over the sleepy village of Azalea. To his marvel, the distant sunrise to the east illuminated the Southern Sea's deep blue waters – as if to promise the upcoming day's warm vibrancy.

With a smile, he reached into his coat-pocket and clutched a silver timepiece. Running his palm against the device's smooth surface, latch clicked open with a flick of his finger. Despite the vital importance of the adventuring tool, the piece was utterly useless, as the hands had been frozen in place at quarter past three by Cipher's doomsday device. _"What could Cipher possibly hope to gain in a world without our technology?"_ he wondered to himself.

As if to answer his fervent thoughts, a small voice echoed from behind him, "A world without those terrifying capture devices doesn't sound half bad."

They young man quickly turned around to face the direction of the voice – his frail form continuously buffeted by the wind. "Sana, you don't understand…"

"I understand you completely now, thas Feyera," she said with her piercing crimson eyes. As wind blew her mint hair about in the furious oncoming wind, she lackadaisically emphasized, "It was my choice."

"At their core, all humans are tool-wielding animals. Without the ARMOS computer system guiding this ship safely, we would have been in for a rough ride." He shrugged. Wearing a smirk, he noted, "But just look at who I'm talking to."

"Human hands are unwieldy," she noted. "Especially when controlling them over a great distance!"

"Heh." He smiled thinking back to the day he met her. "I suppose there's something to be said for your psychic abilities."

"Of course," she nodded her head, concealing a slight blush under the curtains of her hair. "But I can't just mind control anyone I please. No one can; not even you. There has to be an emotional connection fueling the process."

"I knew that," he replied quickly, trying his best to act knowledgeable. "I'm distinguished scholar after all!"

"I'd say you learn better from experience however, hehe." She wobbled back and forth playfully.

"Maybe." Gravitating towards the edge of the ship, he sighed, staring down at the rough waves breaking against the Prima's patched hull. "I suppose you have a fair point. Psyonics need to be further researched, and I'm the right man for the job."

"Hah! You mean this isn't a pleasure cruise?" she joked.

"Hmm. Believe me, I wish it was, but we have a long road ahead of us. There will be time to relax at the end of our journey, I promise."

"Hmm," she said nodding her head back and forth, "if you say so."

"I mean it," he reassured her apparent doubt. "Once we get to Fredrick's contact – Kurt – we'll be able to rest easier."

"You haven't been sleeping much. It shows in your eyes."

"You're right," he replied softly, "I'm a wanted man."

Her eyes widened "It's the dreams isn't it?" she asked fretfully.

"It's as if something, or someone is reaching out – calling out to me, Sana." He looked at her heart. "Like what you did right before we met."

"Calling out to your heart?" she asked with a tone of seriousness.

He nodded softly, emerald eyes affixed. "Is that something I should be worried about? I'm never me in the dreams."

"*Sigh*– some of us believe that reoccurring visions are really messages – conveyed from other souls in our species. My guess is you're very perceptive now to Gardevoir."

"Whatever their origins; it cannot be helped," he said with a shake of his head. "I'm worried, Sana. Worried for the world."

The gravity of his heartfelt words resonated with her, and she replied rather shakily, "I never thought you'd be such a humanist –" she said and he tried to smile. "–the trainer I met for the first time weeks ago on this ship would have only had been concerned for himself. Everything was always about you; saving yourself from that which I treasure most."

"You're right, heh, in some ways I've changed. Thing is, you met me when I was still searching for answers, but not in the right places. Thanks to you, some of those answers were found," he said as she blinked in surprise. "Others will forever be an enigma, and I don't intend on compelling mysteries. I've realized that it's up to me to live this life in the here and now."

"So what does that mean?" she asked, suppressing excitement.

"That means warning Kurt about Cipher's plans for world domination. It's what Fredrick would have wanted me to do… in fact; it's the last thing he wanted."

She closed her eyes. "He wanted what was best for you, thas Feyera."

"I know. *Sniff* At one point, I would have questioned Fredrick's means, but now I think I finally understand him."

"How so?" she asked with focused intrigue.

"Fredrick's hands were completely tied by things beyond his control. His daughter, who experimented with me at Evercrest was overtaken by the infectious Mercurium…" Feyera spoke gravely "And without knowing it; I almost met the same fate."

"So the armlet around your wrist…" she looked at his pale wrist – white as snow, "was only delaying the process of the heart overtaking you?"

"Basically. That's how the cellular fusion was stalled once I awoke the dormant powers of your mate." Feyera sighed. "It was a crude solution, but periodic Serenithium injections seemed to act like the opposite of the Mercurium already inside me. That is, until Ein's Phaeton device outright disabled the mechanism from working. After that, I almost completely vanished from existence. I would have been reborn as a monster with no memory; subservient to Cipher's will."

"Is that when you met Seph?" she asked.

"'Met' might not be the best word," Feyera said with a laugh as weak as his frame. "But yes, without the Serenithium, my psyonics triggered a chain reaction. It was only a matter of time before my human body gave in."

"But Seph didn't let you die," she hummed faintly, "he saved you… twice."

"I'll admit, I thought little of the first time Sephiteos saved my life. And to be honest, I wasn't even sure if saving me was his intention. But the second time… it was different, I didn't feel as if my body was being hijacked and overtaken by the lust for power. The whole experience felt entirely different… we actually spoke."

Her face reddened at the reminder of the last words Sephiteos had shared with her. Although it was incredibly painful for her to let him go, deep down she knew that his final decision was for the best. "It looks like the changes to your body stopped."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better or worse?" he asked pouting. "The Mercurium wound up producing extremely hostile genetic overwrites."

"Heh, and you were so afraid of it, weren't you?" she teased. "I think I've only seen bugs worry you more!"

"Gah! Of course I was afraid!" he said angrily crossing his arms. "For goodness sake Sana, the ancient technology had my body being overtaken by genetic code absorbed by Mercurium on the shard, not your mate."

"What is the difference though? Seph's heart was unique to him and only him. No human could possibly codify who he was!" Sana shrugged. "You must understand, no matter what, this is his heart… and it's all I have left."

"Hmm… All I have left is Seph's heart." Feyera looked at his chest. "He saved me through it, and for that, I'm grateful."

"Then…?" Sana placed her palm on the shard's edge, filling him with a sensation of feverish warmth. "Is this you?"

Feyera shook his head, trying his best to ignore the dazzling sparkling light. "No. I wouldn't say that it's only me. Although his presence is no more a dormant internal force, by saving my memories from being totally erased, Seph's noble sacrifice will continue to live on with my every breath."

"He wanted you alive more than he wanted both of your memories to be dead," Sanaria said solemnly. "His heart is a gift, you know? It's not a menacing curse like you always used to complain about."

"Right." He held her close, their hearts connecting. "And I'll use this gift to protect the bond Seph forged." She smiled as he patted her back. "I'll have you know, that means protecting the world we live in. It's up to us to stop Cipher's madness."

"Thas Feyera, we're together now…" she said lightheartedly. "There's nothing that can stand between us."

"Mmm." he agreed, feeling a surge of emotional energy course through her heart and into his own. She winced slightly as he intuitively reciprocated with a smile. "Thankfully." Taking one last look at the horizon, he quietly led her back toward the protective shelter of the Prima's cabin.

* * *

><p>"Destination imminent, prepare for manual override!" read out the computer as the Prima approached the Johto shoreline. The yacht's powerful engine turbines had begun to wane in their energy output as the rocky beach line came fully into sight. "ARMOS Guidance disengaged. Manual control override in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, mark."<p>

Feyera grasped the vessel's platinum wheel, his knuckles grew white as he tried to take hold of the yacht. "Gah!" he grunted as the strong tide pulled the ship to its side. "Son of a…!"

"Thas Feyera! Don't crash the boat like I did!" squeaked a voice beside him.

"Sana, I'm trying my best, but this shoreline isn't exactly welcoming," he said squinting, desperate to find a place he could dock. "Doesn't Azalea have a port?"

"I don't know! I don't keep track of all your human settlements!"

"Pssh," Feyera steadied the ship's orientation with a quick turn of the wheel. "It's not looking good; I can't see anything but the sun reflecting off the shoreline!"

"OH! Slow down!" Sana suggested clutching him from behind. "Please, I'm going to be sick!"

"Huh – uh –" Feyera slammed down on the engine's throttle, but it did little good. The boat continued its wavering approach, riding the shimmering waves as they broke against the shoreline. "Uh-oh."

"Now you've done it!" she hollered as the boat rammed into a sandbar. The hull shot skyward, knocking Feyera and Sana onto their backs and rolling. The refurbished metal hull made a horrible screeching noise as rock jetties tore into the Prima.

"OOF!" Feyera exclaimed, feeling an alarming sensation of déjà vu.

Sana struggled to her knees. "Well, looks like a perfect landing, captain." His glare managed to catch her as she rolled her eyes. "Now what? It sounds like the water is coming in!"

Feyera had to think quickly. "Can you swim?" he asked.

"SWIM?!" Sana exclaimed. "What type of uncivilized Pokemon do you take me for? My clothes will get all wet!"

He shook his head. "Swallow your pride, Sana; we don't want to drown!" Quickly, he snatched his belongings and knapsack from the cabin. The water was already up to his knees!

"Thas Feyera, I don't want to get wet! My clothes, they'll be ruined!"

"I guess you should have thought about that before all the water adventures we've been on!" Feyera scolded, his tension rising with the water level.

"Argh! I hate it when you're right!" Sana said, pulling her skirt above the water. "Wait! What about a life boat?"

"There's no time!" Feyera shouted, as he kicked the cabin door wide open, "C'mon Sana! It's sink or swim!"

She reluctantly followed him to the vessel's edge. "Okay, ready?" he said, estimating the distance to shore. Even with the atrophy his body had faced, it appeared as if he could make it. "One, …!"

"WAIT!" she screamed, appalled that he leapt before reaching three. The two splashed into the temperate waters, and Feyera immediately began kicking to shore, tugging Sanaria's limp figure along.

It was hardly a journey, after a few strokes the water was shallow enough to stand in. Out of breath, Feyera stood up, and wadded to the beach.

"Gasp! Gasp!"

"Something the matter Sana?" Feyera turned to ask.

With a loud splash, she kicked water straight at him. "YES! Why didn't we ride Des?"

"Heh," Feyera smiled, amused by how the water had inflated her garments. "I suppose we could have done that, now that you mention it."

"WHAT?" she bellowed. "You mean, you didn't even think this plan through before pulling me into the water with you?!"

"I guess not," he said feeling a bit guilty. "It was all happening so quickly."

"Why…!?" she moaned. "Look, my entire gown is ruined."

"Relax, it'll dry, right?" Feyera said with a nervous smile.

"No! The way Gardevoir fabric is woven, it's not meant to be submerged in water."

"Oh…" Feyera gave her a friendly look. "Aw c'mon, it's not terrible; the look suits you."

"Have you gone blind?! I look like a puffed up Qwilfish!"

"Haha!" Feyera snickered. "At least we're okay though…"

"–We are absolutely not okay until you find me new clothes!"

"New…clothes?" Feyera said with a laugh of disbelief "Don't be silly, we have a world to save! We can go shopping another time. Trust me, backwards folks living out here in the boondocks have no sense of style."

"How could you be oblivious enough to think human garments would work!?"

"Umm… I mean, they work for me just fine."

"I am not you, thas Feyera," Sana said with a sigh, "I channel my energy through my movements in battle, unlike your brutish use of psychic power."

"Hey! I'm not a brute."

"Sure you're not," she rolled her eyes. "You're worse! How could you forget about Des?"

"I… uhh… Sana, you're always complaining about how Pokéballs are enslavement tools."

"So? What does that have to do with anything?" she asked pointedly.

Feyera shrugged. "I guess I forgot that I had the power of my Pokemon to rely upon."

"Oh brother!" she exclaimed. "You shouldn't feel guilty about what's already done! Brucie, Des, and July, they're your family now. And a family needs to take care of each other."

Feyera felt a knot in his throat. "Uh, yeah. Family… right."

She looked him dead in the eyes, "Listen, I know it might be hard not having a family of your own species, but at least you have others that rely and care about you. Never forget that."

"You know that's going to be difficult. How am I supposed to beat Cipher without putting my friends into harm's way? The mission we're on is full of danger."

"Hmm…" Sana hummed, "but it's not a danger to face on your own. You'd be a hypocrite to say you don't rely on your companions."

Feyera looked down at his heart. "You're right. I need the strength of my companions."

"That's more like it," Sana said happily. "C'mon, let's get off this beach. I think there's sand between my toes."

"Hmph. Good idea," Feyera said with a quick nod. Oddly, not a soul was in sight. Feyera had expected to see some anglers by the crash site. Yet the sleepy little town of Azalea seemed to be deserted, as they walked west down the empty main street.

"Thas Feyera, why are all the people inside?" Sana asked with worry in her tone.

"Hmm. How do you know they're indoors?" he asked. "Is it because of the boards of wood inside the windows?"

"Very observant," she muttered sarcastically. "But no, it isn't the barricaded windows. It's the people behind them."

"One would presume these hillbillies don't take kindly to strangers," Feyera said casually.

"I–I can feel them." She turned her head to a small brick home. "They're scared of something, thas Feyera."

"Scared?" he asked. "Of us?"

"I don't know the emotion's trigger, but the feeling of fright seems to be the prevailing wind of this little town."

"Fascinating."

"What's so fascinating about that? Aren't you worried?"

"A little. Still, I can't believe you're sensitive enough to pick up those types of things; to me, this place just reminds me of Lavender Town all over again."

"Lavender Town," she said hollowly, "that's where you encountered Haunter, the ghost of desecration."

"Yes. Team Rocket was responsible for unearthing Pokemon in the Tower. I believe they were attempting to procure Mercurium from the bodies that were laid to rest."

"How grotesque! Why would dead bodies have Mercurium?" Sana asked.

Feyera shook his head. "I don't know."

"At least you admit it," Sana said, still squeezing out water from her gown.

"Heh," Feyera chuckled softly, "would you rather me lie?"

"No. I like the honesty, but not the situation we're in."

"Indeed," Feyera said passing by a few residential houses adorned with wind charms on their balconies and porches. "It's like Lavender Town all over again. It even feels the same as Lavender…"

Sana stopped dead in her tracks.

"Hmm? Sana?" Feyera asked, wondering why she halted. "Something wrong?"

With very concerned eyes, she asked him slowly, "Thas Feyera, what did you just say?"

"Uhh… I said that it feels like Lavender Town, you know, missing people and all."

"Your instincts should not be questioned; if this is the same thing you felt in Lavender, we are undoubtedly in a great deal of danger."

"Ah, nonsense!" Feyera shook his head. "Besides, I'm trained to question my instincts as a scientist. Just because a situation feels similar doesn't mean that it's the same thing."

"I would be more cautious about dismissing your instincts." She looked down at a pile of lime bricks, most were neatly stacked, but a few had been knocked over as if the construction project had been hastily abandoned. "Something about this land isn't right."

"Okay, but I doubt Haunter or Team Rocket will be here. I mean, we're out in the sticks of Johto's countryside. This place is about as rural as it gets. The only noteworthy landmark nearby is the Union Cave. Heh, heh, what day of the week is it anyway? Team Rocket might be looking for a Lapras if it's Friday, haha!"

Frowning at his joke, she insisted, "Still, if you had a feeling inside…" She began to walk again, this time much closer to him. "Just promise to be careful."

"Of course," Feyera said, "so long as you stop spooking me like that."

"Oh…" she squeezed his arm "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

"I'm not scared!" Feyera belted defensively. "Let's just get moving and find Kurt, he has to be somewhere around here!"

However, unbeknownst to the young man, a frail figure had been watching him through a magnified scope, tracking his every move from atop one of the boarded-up houses. "Hmm," growled the man steadily holding the long-barreled rifle, "Looks like a Kanto absconder is here to cause more trouble for Azalea. *Sigh* hasn't Team Rocket been enough for our town to worry about?!"

* * *

><p><strong>To be continued…<strong>


	4. The Broken Village

**Chapter 4: The Broken Village**

* * *

><p>A light breeze blew through the exposed alleyways of the desolate town. The earth, charred and barren, had only sparse patches of grass growing in the shadows of the dilapidated structures. The sun, shimmering high above, scorched the arid landscape which had long since relinquished its last precious drops of water. Wispy clouds circulated high overhead, floating like gentle white smoke, but rain not had fallen for months. The wells were dry. Drought had seized the land. And yet a tension remained in the air. A foreboding sense of dread.<p>

"_LOOK OUT!"_ screeched the Gardevoir, launching a burst of psychic energy with a twist of her wrist. The ensuing kinetic kick startled Feyera as he and Sanaria were knocked backwards.

"Whoa!" grunted the young man as he attempted to regain his footing. "What are you doing?!" he asked feeling her frail figure lean defensively beside him.

"_Poacher!" _she yelled out,_ "Above us, atop that building!" _

"I'm on it!" Reflexive intuition barreling into action, he clutched his belt holster, and charged forward with a burst of speed. His heart pounded as he looked up at the rickety balcony, perched high atop a tattered wooden house. Below the sun-faded awning, stood the shadow of a man holding what appeared to be a rifle.

"_WAIT!"_ called out her voice from behind, realizing he had not taken cover behind her Reflect. However, this was no time for stalling; Feyera had already quickly surveyed the land, and realized both he and his Pokemon had little cover to survive a firefight. There was simply nowhere else to go except towards the shooter Sana had identified in the nick of time. He had seen the threat through her eyes, viewed the menacing steel barrel peering out from behind an iron-guarded platform atop a decrepit residence directly ahead. Bizarre feelings and confusing memories had also transmitted through the shared sensory perception – he felt the terror of being hunted since birth. The twisted horror of countless generations of Ralts and their kin. It was an awful, visceral sensation – one which would have crippled him had he not understood its origin. Yet this foreign fear did not dissuade him from his objective: to take the fort. If he could draw attention towards the base of the house, perhaps then he could duck below the rifle's sight and use psyonics to leap onto the dilapidated roof to finish the job.

He thought he heard a faint voice, but the emotions guiding his body were far too potent – he could barely comprehend the inundating thoughts from his heart. Everything around him was blurring into necessary action as spiritual energy guided him. Perilously rushing across the ground and closing the distance, Feyera heard another voice – this one louder and more urgent. "HALT! I told you to stop, outlander! The property's littered with mines–!"

With frightening quickness, he looked down, and saw the flashing lights riddled across the land, some of them barely even buried beneath the surface. In the blink of an eye, one of the mines had tripped with an audible "beep beep BEEP!"

"Shit!" he said breathlessly as a crackle of thunder from beneath the earth sent him skywards. Unable to manipulate the incredible force, Feyera covered his face with his forearm as the blast below ensued sending explosive debris every which way. From his tumbling vantage, he could barely right himself in time to allow the psyonic impulses to moderate his decent. In a panic of swirling dust, he caught a glimpse of his adversary, who had now exposed himself from behind the shelter.

It was now or never, a focused mental state had overtaken him, and he felt familiar swirling energy streaming out of his palms. "It's gonna take more than that to kill me!" he hollered vengefully, but the air had barely returned to his lungs causing his voice to be hoarse. Another step forward and he felt the ground rumble yet again. Another eruption of force from beneath the surface nearby knocked him to the ground with a thud. It was a graceless stumble followed by a sharp pain in his right leg. The sensation, though muffled by his adrenaline, quickly caused him to look down to find a palm's width of fragmentation in his thigh. Blood had begun to spill out from the injury. Based on the lack of forceful bleeding, no vital arteries had been hit but his leg muscle was completely out of commission. He swore loudly and yelped as his hand ran over the piece in an attempt to dislodge it. However, he immediately felt nauseated from the severe pain and collapsed.

"_Thas Feyera!"_ Sana bellowed, advancing toward his prone body with a reflect shield aloft in front of her.

Then from the balcony came a gritty and old voice, "Order your Pokemon to stand down or I'll detonate the rest of the mines!" ordered the man stationed in the makeshift bunker.

Buckled on his side, Feyera grimaced in the sheer agony from the fall while a deceptively soft-blue light pulsed in steady busts not more than an arm's length away. The dry soil barely covered the mine. "Damn…" he said weakly, "it's no good, I… I can't move. You have to back off, Sana; these things are set off by motion. Don't come any closer!"

Sana abruptly halted in fear, and was now looking down at her feet.

"Last warning outlander!" said the man with a stern order, "Tell your Pokemon to stand down and who knows, I might just let you live to see tomorrow in one piece!"

Rising slowly to his knees, Feyera felt the fresh tearing of skin seize him. More warm blood trickled from a deep gash on his hip. The pain was pulsating, and he tried to minimalize the sensation by focusing all of his energy on assessing the situation.

Above the heavily guarded property a lone gunman stood with his rifle, now pointed skywards. In his other hand the man appeared to be holding the detonator – its short silver antenna glimmered brightly in the harsh sunshine. "Give up already, will you? Taking my stronghold isn't worth your life!" roared the man from afar.

"_Please, Please, listen to him! You're badly hurt. There's no other way!"_ she protested. Without even needing to snap his head around he could sense Sanaria's frightened presence. Though he could no longer see clearly through her eyes, the bond of sensation was just strong enough to reveal her sentiments. _"Please, you have to listen to me, thas Feyera! This isn't worth getting blown up over!"_

Biting his lip in utter frustration, Feyera called out, "Fine! You win! We'll stand down." Though the thought of backing down from a challenge did not agree with him, there was no rational way to win this fight now that he was knocked down in the middle of the field.

"Smart move kid," said the man with smug laughter, "Now get up on your feet real slow, hands high where I can see them!"

Humiliated, Feyera obliged without a grumble. His tattered clothes had small puddles of blood from the nearly fatal explosion. Had the force not lofted him, he surely would have been gravely wounded from the mine's blast. At this point he was grateful to still be breathing, although the defeat stung at his core. "Urgh…" he could not help but tremble from the pain as the recently aggravated scars on his body leaked precious lifeblood. "I… *cough*" gaging on saliva he tried to talk, but the words felt incredibly distant, their meanings leaving him confused and lost. "Why...why?" he managed to ask whilst extending both his hands skyward to surrender.

"I should ask you the same question!" said the stranger. "You're trespassing on my land after all!"

"Your …land?" he asked feeling rather puzzled by the concept at first. Considering he was from Saffron, it didn't look like much. In fact, the rural area looked unhospitable for farming even without the minefield. Forcing a smirk he said back, "I don't suppose you value your land very much if you're willing to booby-trap it with explosives!"

"Humph." He placed his rifle to his side and crossed his arms with a scowl. "You sure are snarky for a young pup! To be honest, I wish it did not have to come to this. Yet this is the only way I can protect what is my own from those who wish to take it from me by force."

"…!" Oddly enough, those words rang true. Maybe it was from the blood loss, although in spite of the lightheaded feeling, the gunman did appear to have some sense about him. By now Feyera had gotten a clear sight of him. Perched defensively atop the wired roof, he must have stood not much taller than average. He wore a pocketed overcoat, camouflaged in white and grey to match the surrounding dismal environment. Clearly, he sought not to be disturbed – or discovered for that matter.

"So! Now that I have your attention, tell me, what gang of marauders sent you?"

"I'm not a raider!" Feyera shouted. "I don't have any qualms with you!"

"And yet here you are, intruding upon my property – that makes you a liar. I don't take kindly to liars, I'll tell you what."

"What's it to you!?" Feyera snarled, "I won't allow you to hurt my friends." He glanced down at his Pokéball holster. Brucie, Des, and July remained in their stasis chambers, awaiting a quick trigger release by the C-gear. However, Feyera refrained from further aggression; surely, if the gunman was willing to talk to him for this long, he may very well be moved by the young man's request. "My Pokemon are too important to me!"

"Your words are little more than recycled hypocrisy, phrases all trainers are taught to adopt."

"I told you I would stand down!" Feyera exclaimed with fury, placing his Pokéball holster down by the side of his ankle. "Promise me you won't hurt them! They're innocent."

"I wouldn't be entertaining the thought had you not attempted to rush at me."

"You were aiming a rifle at me, what was I supposed to believe?! If not for that, I wouldn't have felt we were in immediate danger," Feyera wittily retorted.

"My eyes aren't the best at my age," the man replied, "I was monitoring your movements, through my scope."

"Oh, so that is how it is?! You just peer through a gunsight and expect me to not suspect hostility?!" Angered beyond measure and facing increasing levels of pain from the recent injury, Feyera's natural intuitiveness still demanded answers. "Hold up. You called me an outlander before, how do you know I'm not from Johto?"

"Hah! Boy, I can count the number of people I trust from this region on one hand. And you're not one of 'em."

"Are you serious?" Feyera asked, looking around at the deserted landscape. "At least tell me what happened here since - as you've correctly deduced - I'm not from around here."

The gunman, stiff in his posture, remained silent. Gradually he lowered his hand holding the threatening detonator. "Why should I?" he asked.

"I-it's not like I can do anything! What happened to this town?" pressured a wounded Feyera. He frowned, unable to make direct eye contact or rely on Sana's powers to boost his own at this distance, leaving much ambiguity as to the circumstances of his situation. At the very least sensing a diminished level of hostility, Feyera lowered his arms and applied pressure on the gash at the side of his leg. Gahh!" he moaned tightening his grasp on the site of the injury. As the arid soil mixed with his blood, the coppery scent became unbearably strong; his heart glimmered a pale red, pulsating with every noxious inhalation. "Please…" he pleaded, feeling his time quickly draining away.

Finally the gunman spoke, "Why have you brought such a creature with you to this place?"

"Creature?!" she snapped in riled anger. _"How dare he say such a thing!"_

"Sana, ease up!" he said shooting her a look warning her not to advance. "I don't know what you are talking about, I'm a Pokemon trainer and –"

But it was already too late, as their secret was out in the open, as obvious as the heart upon Feyera's chest. "So, you taught a Gardevoir to speak with the voice of a human being?" the man asked with a disgusted expression. "…How could you do such a thing?"

"I–I don't know what you are talking about," he replied nervously, "I'm just a Pokemon trainer and –"

"–Don't play coy; I spotted it with my scope before you even saw my rifle," interrupted the man with an accusing finger, "Your chest and your Gardevoir, there's something unnatural about the two."

"Ah –" Feyera flushed "– yes, well you're very keen to take notice of such things," he responded fretfully.

"Don't mock my observations, kiddo," chided the mysterious gunman. "That was no ordinary jump. I figured your Pokemon had something to do with it, but at that distance that does not make any sense. Unless…" he paused, and then quickly shook his head. "I sensed something off about you and your Pokemon the moment you set foot in Azalea."

"So this is Azalea?" Feyera replied suppressing a tight smirk – thankful for the information regarding their present location. "*Huff…!* I would have expected a quiet little town like this to be more hospitable to travelers. Looks like I was sorely mistaken…"

"True, you know nothing about the Azalea I once knew," he said with a serious tone, the shadows of his bunker concealing an old and cragged face, "as I said already – very few are left who do."

"And yet you'd expect me to know such things? I'm not even from around here as you already pointed out!" Feyera rebuked his wound tearing open further from the agitated stance. "Ah!" he crouched down in pain. "My heart!" he cried out as energy pathways continued to twist and coil through his aching body. "Gugh…it's tearing at my body from within!"

"_Thas Feyera!"_ Sana telepathically conveyed, distraught with anxiety,_ "You mustn't move!"_

"I'll be fine!" he quickly lied; knowing her drive to rescue him was reaching unprecedented levels. It was difficult enough to control his own physical pain, let alone her radiant feelings. _"Stay back, the field is riddled with his traps." _

"_I'll rise above them!"_ she said quickly trying to formulate a plan,_ "I'll levitate like before and–"_

"No!" Feyera said sternly. _"They detect motion, not weight. It's bad enough one of us should have to suffer through our bond. This isn't your fault. Don't jeopardize the situation any further."_

"_Thas Feyera…I…don't know what to do."_

"I shouldn't have rushed ahead without thinking," he admitted embarrassingly. _"This is all my fault, that's why we're separated."_

"_I can't accept that – I won't let you die alone!"_

"I can tell it really cares for you," interjected the gunman.

"Of course I do!" Sana cried out in a pitch of fevered emotion. "And I'm not an 'it', you decrepit old basta–"

"-Sana, now isn't the time," Feyera interjected. _"Don't you see? Hearing a Pokemon speak with the voice of a human upsets him."_

"_But I can only speak because of you! You taught me when our hearts kissed! A part of you stayed with me and I can't lose the rest of it!"_

"Sanaria, I told you cannot follow me here, it's too dangerous."

"_But…!"_

"Humph. I don't want another corpse on my hands. Our town's once peaceful fields have been polluted with far too much loss already; I will not stand by and watch you slowly die before my eyes, despite what you've done."

"Y–you're going to let me live?" Feyera asked in confusion. "And my Pokemon too? After all of that?"

"I can see that you're badly hurt. And to be honest, I'm surprised my mine didn't outright kill you. To let you bleed out and die would be cruel and unjust to your friend."

"Thank you…" said Sana.

"Thanks…" Feyera quivered, "Hey, wait a second! What about the mines?"

"I will disable them remotely, after all they're not Voltorb" he said firmly. "But you'll have to trust me. These are devices I built, and they obey my control."

"You build mines?!" Feyera asked in bewilderment.

"Among other things," replied the man as he adjusted a nob on the detonator device. "There. It should be safe to walk over now."

"_Should_ be?" asked Feyera trying not to sound as terrified as he actually was.

"_Listen to him,"_ said a voice by his side. _"I trust him."_

"Sana!" he exclaimed in disbelief upon seeing her standing on one of the devices. It had ceased its ominous blinking. "I – ahh – phew, you're all right."

"_Of course I'm all right, the man said I would be! But you're not, and that needs to change."_

Feyera shook his head, bemused by how trusting Sanaria was. If it was her nature to be this way, then it was a wonder she had managed to stay alive – especially around him.

"_Well, what are you waiting for? Can you still walk?"_ she asked innocently. Her palm graced his shoulder and the stinging sensation subsided for a moment, giving him clarity.

"I think so." By the time he had gotten to his feet, he noticed the gunman was already downstairs and opening the reinforced door to the residence. In spite of the terrible damage he had taken, and the unknown future ahead, he could not help but give her a smile as she helped him to his feet. Arm in arm they walked over the field of mines and towards the open door.


	5. The House on the Hill

Chapter 5: The House on the Hill

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><p>It was a long walk, filled with anxiety and the steady feeling of unease. The "house" before them was barely even capable of being qualified as such judging from its decrepit exterior. Yet there was nothing else to do but trust the mysterious figure who had since departed into the structure's interior from the second-story balcony.<p>

Feyera mutely addressed his companion with uninhibited discomfort, "Is this the only way, Sana?"

She looked at him with a stern gaze. _"Yes. It is the only way,"_ she replied with a pale expression, _"Your heart is still beating after all."_

"You have a point," he said with an injured arm held tightly against his chest. His leg felt numb with pain from the explosion, and a small piece of metal protruded out from above his kneecap. Though he limped with each step forward, Sana helped to steady him. "If that guy wanted us dead, he could have detonated all the mines with the flip of a switch… Unless he was bluffing, which is not entirely beyond the realm of possibilities."

_"What? You're so cynical, you know that?"_ she answered with a pout. _"What would he even stand to gain from such a ruse?"_

"Well… I… That nature of mine is what has kept me alive, isn't it?" he said backpedaling with his words.

_"You're unbelievable!" _Abruptly, she reached her arm around his shoulder and clutched at his heart. The suddenness of her maneuver surprised him.

"Hey!" he said with a start. "What are you doing?"

_"I don't know. But if this is considered 'living' for you then you still have a lot to learn."_

"What's that supposed to mean?"

_"It means you need to stop nearly getting yourself killed!"_ she demanded with a high pitched voice indicative of her fevered emotion.

"I - Gee, I'm sorry," he apologized with the revelation of how much she cared about him. True, he had considered how expendable his life was after regaining the memories of his atrocious past. But as long as Sanaria had placed value on his life, there was indeed some reason however remote to continue his existence. Even if he could not atone for his wrongful actions, there was still a life that mattered beyond his own half-baked concept of 'redemption'.

By now they had approached the house without issue besides their own bickering and the door was opened by an oddly short man. Was it the same gunman who had been perched on the roof? Shifting back into the shadows of the building, he beckoned the both of them indoors with a rushed wave of his stocky arms.

The two of them crossed the threshold, walking into what could only be described as a shelter of sorts. It was once a home, the interior walls were painted with a warm chestnut wallpaper, and tall floor lamps illuminated large photographs in the main foyer. Antiques and craftwork dotted the countertops of the main living area, with the kitchen being set further back behind a slightly ajar sliding oak door. In short, Feyera felt deceived, the outside of the bunker had given him an entirely different perspective. He wondered how long the gunman, who was now by some twist of fate now their host, had lived here. Probably for weeks, he figured to himself as Sanaria walked directly beside him in this strange place, her hand resting comfortably upon his jagged core. The lodging even smelt like a home, the musky air quickly reminded Feyera of days gone by, despite the distinctive odor of a generator wafting in from nearby.

The stocky man walked on ahead though a hallway, not paying much attention to his guests in spite of initially trying to keep them away at all costs. Something about him had changed. True, the gunman was a lot shorter now that he was not perched atop the house's upstairs lookout station, but there was something else that Feyera could not quite put his finger on. He walked with a slight limp, and his crooked back gave away his advancing age. Together they reached the living room, with tall ceilings and countless books and gadgets cozily nested in the bookshelves lining the walls.

Tossing his camouflaged overcoat on the nearby bench, he turned around and said, "I don't have much to offer you, but if you want to treat those open wounds of yours, I would advise using antiseptic before infection sets in. There's some in my first aid kit–" the man walked over to a bookshelf, standing up on a hand-carved wooden stool to accommodate for his lack of height "–here." With his piercing eyes he tossed Feyera the white medical bag.

Catching it offhand, Feyera thanked him. "I…err…thanks I suppose."

"Pah." He seemed to be annoyed by the gratitude, crossing his arms with a frown. "I told you already, kid; the less time you spend here the better. Hurry up and fix yourself up," he replied crabbily. "You're very lucky to be alive."

"Right." Feyera found it odd how the old man did not make a comment on his chest, nor about the psychic at his side. Sitting down on one of the teak benches, he could not help but notice one of the prominent pictures on the wall. He immediately recognized the tall and imposing figure – it was none other than Professor Oak! Though he appeared much younger, there was no mistaking his serious expression and he even held a Pokédex in his jacket's breast pocket. Standing beside him were two others, one appeared to be the gunman in his younger years. Though he still had cloudy white hair, it had not begun to recede. Beside him was a pretty lady, full-figured, and with determined hazel eyes. The gracefully tall brunette had an arm around a younger-looking gunman and she was obviously concealing a beaming half-smile with a faux serious expression. She wore a bright cerulean dress that draped down to her heels and sported a brooch necklace with a large white flower. Unsure of what to say, Feyera offhandedly commented, "So, you're one of Professor Oak's friends too?"

He shrugged, appearing not to care much for the subject. "So what?"

"I was curious since he gave me a Pokédex," Feyera said although he was not quite sure whether he still even had the technological device in his bag. "Did you know him personally?"

"Sure, I knew him, kid," he answered with a grimace. "That was years ago. Oak was a brilliant man, but he was also in cahoots with the League."

"The Pokemon League, right?"

"The very same, aren't you smart?" he responded sarcastically. His stout frame bobbled as he walked a nearby clothed seat.

Feyera answered with a frank statement, "They are the only form of government we have."

"_YOU_ have," he corrected with a bitter expression, his eyes piercing like a pair of honed daggers. "They don't much care about folks out here. In the end, forming the League never did us any good…" he grumbled angrily. However, the old man's subtle hostility was quickly masked by a change in subject. "Here, you better use some of this as well," he said giving Feyera a bottle of "Feraligatr-Brand" vodka from a nearby cabinet. It was one-hundred-and-sixty proof according to the label, which had a comical illustration of a giant, blue and beige jawed Pokemon guzzling the booze. "Take a swig if you have to."

He knew better than to do that, but a quick glance at the look on Sanaria's face showed her utter confusion. _"Why would you ever drink that alcohol?"_ she asked him telepathically. _"That's poisonous!"_

He closed his eyes, ignoring her questioning in order to prepare himself for the inevitable sting. Tightly gripping the glass bottle of makeshift antiseptic, he liberally emptied some of the contents onto a clean white bandage. Though Sana was dulling the pain through their bonded hearts, he knew the application would hurt, perhaps even more than removing the piece of shrapnel partially imbedded in his thigh. Holding his breath, he poured the some of the alcohol on his new wound and the overwhelming pain riled all of his senses at once. "Argh…!" he bit his tongue in discomfort, and Sana pressed her head against his shoulder. Quickly feeling a break in the insurmountable burning, his desperate hand reached for the medical tweezers, and delicately pulled the mine's shrapnel free from his flesh. "Ahh… Ahhh!" he panted as the pieces gradually came loose from the side of his leg.

_"It will be okay, thas Feyera, the worst is over,"_ she whispered in his ear. _"You'll heal quickly if you rest."_

Feyera knew that was a lie she concocted to help comfort him, he had learned her tricks well by now. There was no more time for rest. Not with Cipher on the warpath. "Oooh, that stings!" he said hastily enfolding an additional bandage on top of the blood-soaked gash. "Arrrgh!" Biting on his lip in agony, he looked over at the white haired man, who was watching the interaction with perplexed silvery eyes. Feyera quickly met his gaze with a frown, "Say, mister, how about you help take my mind off this pain: what happened here? Why are you bunkered up in this place? Why the….arrghhh! - mines?"

Briefly contemplating the request, the stocky man furrowed his extraordinarily bushy eyebrows. "That's not something I need to share. Especially with an outlander so clueless as to what is happening to the world. If you still believe in your precious Pokemon League, you're probably better off not knowing."

This dismissal only intrigued Feyera further. With the tattered remnants of daily life seemingly cast aside, he wondered what had made this man into the recluse that he currently was. Surely the esteemed Professor Oak wouldn't be on speaking terms with a paranoid hermit. Would he?

Suddenly the sliding oak door opened! A little girl wearing a cheerful pink dress with white polka dots barged into the room. "Grandpa! Grandpa!" she squealed excitedly dancing, "We have guests! Yay!"

"Maisy!" scolded the elderly man, "I told you to wait downstairs in the safety room."

She quickly skipped over to Feyera, bounced up and down energetically by his side as her neatly combed brown hair in a bun unraveled. "No! I heard voices. That means other people are here." Her sunny blue eyes opened wide upon seeing Sana. "Ooh! What a pretty Pokemon!"

_"…!"_ Sanaria flinched as the small girl rushed to grab her. _"H-hey!"_ she blurted, then letting out a ticklish laughter when Maisy grabbed her arm.

"Hah, looks like you made a new friend." Feyera couldn't help but genuinely smile at Sana's reaction to the little girl.

"That's enough, Maisy, go back to your room and play with the toys grandpa made for you, it isn't safe here," he ordered sternly.

"NO! Toys are boring, grandpa," Maisy said as she latched on tighter to Sana. "I want to stay here with the pretty Pokemon!"

She let go of his heart and looked innocently at the little _"Pretty…?"_ Sana repeated, first through her telepathic bond with him, and then aloud. "You think I'm pretty?"

"OOOH! You can talk too?" the small child exclaimed with a great voice that belied her diminutive frame. "What is your name? I'm Maisy, M-A-I-S-Y!"

Sana's cheeks flushed a bright rose color, and she leaned back towards the table, feeling overwhelmed by the little girl's energy. Feyera gave Sana's hand a squeeze, and said, "It's okay, go ahead, why don't you tell her?"

"Sana… you can call me Sana," she said softly. With a confused glower, she looked back at Feyera, who served as her functional liaison with humanity. _"Are all human children this excitable?"_ she asked him privately.

"Haha!" Feyera chuckled at the interesting interaction between the two. Finally, the sharp pain in his chest had begun to subside, but frankly he wasn't sure if the soft bandage on his gashed leg had been the cause of relief or if it was the lighthearted interaction taking place before his eyes.

By now the older man had given up on sending Maisy back to her room, and instead he weakly reprimanded, "Honey, what did I teach you about talking to strangers or their Pokemon?" He kept a distrustful pair of eyes on Feyera all the while.

"I know grandpa, you're supper cautious," she said shaking her chocolate colored hair in an energetic headshake. "But I miss my Pokemon. I miss my little helper, Pinky. I'm so lonely. Why did mommy have to go away with Pinky?"

By now Sanaria was opening up to the little girl, demonstrated by her less defensive posture. She asked innocently, "Where did your mommy and Pinky go?"

Immediately, Feyera could sense the heightened unease in the room. With a downtrodden glare, the elderly man looked although he had just taken a hit to the heart. Maisy shrugged and quickly said, "AWAY!" she then lowered her voice, "Mommy and Pinky went away. I dunno where. I really miss them both though." Then she nodded optimistically at Sanaria. "I hope they come back home soon, I want them to meet you Sana!"

"Maisy…" said the man with a very fragile tone. A tremor in his hoary eyes said it all.

The little girl hugged Sanaria's leg. She barely was taller than her knee, and couldn't be much older than four or five. "I love daddy and I know he misses mommy very much. Grandpa is cool too, the toys he makes for me to play with are fun but I want Pinky and mommy to come home."

"Maisy, that's enough…" he said, "please, go back to your room, I promise I'll make you a new toy if you do."

"I don't want a new toy though! I want a Pokemon," she said defensively holding on, "and I want my mommy back!"

Understanding the situation, Feyera gave her an encouraging smile, "Don't worry Maisy, your mommy is happy for you and your daddy."

Her tiny fingers played with Sana's skirt. "Really?" she asked, a little untrusting. "Wait. Why should I believe you? You look kinda funny. Do you know where they are?"

"Well, no, I don't." Something strange had occurred, instead of giving her a lie or an explanation, the former scientist simply nodded and said, "But I know your mommy is with you whenever you think of her."

"Yeah, okay, whatever, but who are you?" she asked crossing her arms. "You look really weird."

"Oh me?" he said, taken aback by childish curiosity that rivaled his own, "My name's Mister Feyera, I used to be a Pokemon Doctor."

She looked at him skeptically. "A doc-tor? Hmm… You sure don't look like a doc-tor to me."

He tried to laugh it off. "Ah, well, you see that was a very long time ago. Before I became a Pokemon Trainer."

"Oh, I think I get it," Maisy said with a smile of revelation, "you're not a people doc-tor. You take care of Pokemon like Sana."

Feyera nodded. "Yes. Very good, I can tell you're going to go far with that clever head of yours. Maybe one day when you grow up you can be a doctor too."

Sana laughed – seeing a side of him he had not exposed made her feel even more curious about the intricacies of human relationships. Her brief chuckle was brief since Maisy knocked the wind out of her with another tight hug.

"I want to be a trainer too one day!" Maisy said resolutely. Then she looked up, "I never met a talking Pokemon before! Sana, will you be my Pokemon?"

"N–no!" she belted defensively at the thought of submitting to human will. "I will absolutely not be your pet!"

Maisy's eyes quivered and grew glassy with impending tears. "W-why not? Don't you like me? *Sniff*"

Feyera quickly gave her a nudge in the side and said, "C'mon Sana, she's only a child. Be nice to her."

"Why won't you like to be my Pokemon, Sana?!" wailed the little girl. "Is there something a'matter with me?"

"I…I…" Sana stuttered, completely taken off-guard by what was occurring around her. She never fathomed human interactions with young children could be this stressful. "I'm sorry, of course, whatever you say, I'll be your Pokemon, Maisy."

"Really?!" she asked excitedly reaching for the Gardevoir's shimmering heart. At first, she quivered, fighting the instinctive reaction to back away from the touch. But when the child touched her heart, a warm glow radiated throughout the room. "It's so pretty!"

"So, 'Doctor'," came the voice of the old man who had been very quiet up until now, "you know who I need to protect."

Feyera shook his head disapprovingly though, "Locking her up here isn't going to help her to overcome what she needs to."

"You fool!" he shouted angrily. Sanaria and Maisy both flinched. The little girl sought comfort in the Gardevoir's embrace. The elderly man continued to defend his stance, "You have no business telling me how to raise my granddaughter. She needs me more now than ever after everything that has happened here in this town."

"I'm sure she does," Feyera remembered back to his childhood, recollecting his absent parents. "But if you keep her locked up in this dangerous place all her life, she'll never learn see past the wrongs of the world."

This infuriated the man, and his temper rose. "How dare you lecture me on parenting!" he snapped as beads of sweat gathered on his wrinkly brow. "If you knew the evils of this land, then surely you too would –"

Feyera quickly interrupted him with a collected voice, "- Which is precisely why we should be discussing the current situation without the ears of little children nearby, no?"

Thankfully, the reasoning worked. "Maisy, I want you to go downstairs," he said trying hard to refrain from shouting. "I need to speak to our guest here alone."

Maisy held onto Sanaria tightly though, refusing to be released. "No!" she said defiantly. "I'm not gonna go anywhere! I'mma big girl."

"Please, be a good girl and listen to grandpa," insisted the aggravated grandfather.

"NO!" Maisy clung on tighter to Sana's waist. "I'm staying here! With Sana!"

Seeing the tensions throughout the room rising in hues of rich scarlet, Feyera quickly spoke up, "Say, Maisy, why don't you show Sana your toys grandpa built for you? I'm sure she'd love to see them."

Sanaria shot him a confused look. _"What?!" _she belted telepathically,_ "I'm not the child's mother! Why should I have to - ?"_

"Aw, c'mon," he said nonchalantly, "wouldn't that be fun, Sana? I'm sure Maisy has a lot of fun toys for you to play with. Maybe you can make them float with your powers. I'm sure Miss Maisy would love that."

"My powers aren't for playing games - !" she cried out to little avail.

"Yes!" Maisy said happily tugging on the fabric she wore. "I like that idea. We'll play together just like mommy and Pinky!"

"M-mommy?!" Sana crossed her arms and pouted, _"H-hold on! You're just using me to get rid of the baby in the room!"_

Feyera smirked. "It'll be good for you both, just play nice, why don't you."

"Yay!" Bouncing joyfully onto the floor, she tugged on Sana's arm and pulled at her clothes. "Let's go, Sana! C'mon, C'MON!"

"Eeep!" Sana cried out. "Wait…! I'm not your - ! Hey, that hurts!"

"Gee, you're slower than Pinky, and she was a SLOWpoke!" urged Maisy. "Let's play now."

Feyera gave her a gentle push on the back and set her up on her feet. "Go along you two, have fun together!"

She glared at him from across the room; being dragged along by Maisy's surprisingly strong tugs. Sanaria appeared hopelessly defeated by the youthful persistence. _"This isn't fair at all, thas Feyera! I hate you!"_ she said telepathically.

"Okay, bye bye," he said with a friendly wave and a satisfied grin.


	6. New Mysteries and Unexpected Allies

**Chapter 6: New Mysteries and Unexpected Allies**

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><p><span><strong>AN:**

I meant to say something when I posted a chapter last week due to the fact that I have been gone for so long, but I was honestly unable to find the courage to do so until now.

Thank you for continuing to read and provide feedback for this fiction, it truly gives me the strength to continue going forward with it. Admittedly, I have been distant. I understand if you have lost respect for me as an author who neglected his work. All I can really say in regards to my absence is that life sometimes throws a few curve-balls, and the ones you don't expect always seem to count for more on the scoreboards. In any regard, I am grateful for the reviews and continued interest in this fiction - it is incredible to receive feedback from you even after all this time has passed and I am overcome with happiness. I will strive to carry on and produce excellent chapters that meet your expectations and improve upon the world built up by my previous arcs. And on that high note, back to the story.

* * *

><p>Maisy and Sanaria had barely left the room, when the jaded old man barked, "Just who are you to come here and try to disrupt our already broken lives?!"<p>

Put on the defensive, he shook his head. "I told your granddaughter already what my name is, it's Feyera and I'm a –"

"– Baloney!" he interrupted with a distrusting glare. "You expect me to believe a cheap lie like that? Your deception is seriously trying my patience and – believe me – I don't have much patience to begin with!"

"_Oh boy, this old geezer is crabbier than a Krabby on the beach,"_ Feyera thought.

"Who sent you and what are you here for?" he pressured, squinting his eyes in a way that made his face appear all bunched together. Had he not been yelling, the scene would be quite comical. "Was it the group of marauders outside the town promising you a quick bounty?"

Deliberating over his next words carefully, Feyera started out slowly, "Listen, I can tell you're upset. But I'm not here to take anything away from you. In fact, I'm looking for someone who can help me out with a significant problem. The whole world is in terrible danger because of a group of people that want to –"

"–Forget it! I'll have no part in it!" the man said quickly with a feeling of unease. "Can't you see? This 'town' you came to is completely done in! There's no one left who cares about these smaller villages. I have enough to worry about here at home. Honestly, just surviving is enough. Is it too much to ask for me to live alone in peace with the last surviving thread of my family!?"

"I'm sorry," Feyera looked over at the picture again with Professor Oak in it. Was the woman in the photograph related to him? She definitely could have been; they shared the same almond-shaped eyes. Come to think of it, her eyes also looked a lot like Maisy's. He thought better than to raise that. "This is really important…" he urged with a stern glare. "If you'll just hear me out, you'll understand why I've come all this way out here."

The man turned his back to Feyera, and faced the image that hung on the wall. "Important…? Take a good look around, kid! What could possibly be so important at a time like this?"

Feyera tried again to be direct with him. "Look, I'll be straight with you, gramps; I'm searching for a Pokéball artisan that is said to live around here."

The man let out a deep sigh, his hunched shoulders arcing further down with his exhale. "If you're looking for someone to craft you some Pokéballs, you've come to the wrong town. There's no one left here. Can't you see what Team Rocket has done to our town!?"

"Ah ha, Team Rocket!" he exclaimed in a mixture of resentment and frantic worry. "So, they're the ones responsible for all of this?"

"Oh, you've heard of them?" he asked with a strong tone of disdain. It appeared as though he had just tasted a very sour berry indeed. "How uncanny," he cynically added.

Feyera felt a lump form in his throat as a pitch of nervousness overtook him. "To be fair, who hasn't?" he answered, deflecting the accusation. However, buried within his nonchalant response was a deep sense of regret and resentment to have ever been associated with the organization of criminals currently terrorizing the people here in Johto. He sincerely hoped that the man he was talking with did not pick up on his not too distant compunctions.

"They're not the ones that sent you then?" asked the older man mistrustingly. His worried expression showed Feyera hints of an abstract fear, not of the criminal organization itself, but of atrocities he had seen committed in their name; for this was different from the usual sensation of fear Feyera had been able to perceive before in others. The peculiar colors pertaining to emotions, which typically flavored the environment around their source of origin, were simply not present. Rather than that deep indigo color that his eyes associated with fear in the past, there was instead only a murky grey fog, thickly blanketing the already dim room. He pondered this unusual change in his idiosyncrasy, but only for a moment, figuring that it could also be due to the lack of Sana's presence nearby.

"Correct," Feyera said with a look of aversion on his face. "I – err… I know they did terrible things to Pokemon in an effort to further their own ambitions. I won't give up until they've been dealt with and their atrocities put to an end. That is my mission."

"Hah. That's some wild idealism," said the old man with a fleeting smile. "Kid, you need to slow down. No one crosses the Rockets and gets off the hook, believe me I –"

Feyera quickly interrupted him, "– It's not mere idealism! I may look weak, but what if I told you I already defeated Archer, one of their pit-leaders in Celadon?"

"WHAT!?" The man quickly turned around in worry. He shook his head frantically as he peered out of a shaded window behind him. Even though it was clearly daylight outside, the small window did very little to illuminate the gloomy atmosphere within the house. "No, no, no! Then you have to leave right away, the Rockets never forget an attack on one of their ranking admins, it's only a matter of time before they follow you here to seek their revenge!"

"Relax," Feyera urged with a cocky vaunt, "They have no idea where I am. I managed to make a clean break for it after infiltrating their base. Granted… I also had considerable help back then."

"You don't get it, do you?!" he shouted, clearly distraught. Slamming the blinds closed, he walked back over to the bench in the center of the living room. "This isn't about being faster than them! This place, my granddaughter, none of it is safe with you around! I'm sorry, but you need to leave at once, we're not going to get caught up in this anymore than we already have."

"I understand your concern." Feyera tried to level with him, his determined gaze unwavering, "But you welcomed me into your house for treatment, and I'm only really in need of one thing in particular. It's the reason I came here in the first place: to find a Pokéball craftsman named Kurt. A good man sent me here to look for him. Told me he would help."

"Kurt…" he said with an uncomfortably long pause, "was killed during the raids on our town."

"_He has to be lying,"_ thought Feyera. Tiny beads of sweat were gathering on his temples, and his keen mind had already deconstructing the falsehood. Avoidance of direct eye contact. A quivering upper lip. Even the faintest scent of primal fear became apparent through the latent psyonic powers. "Oh really?" Feyera rebuked with an irritated scowl. "Why don't you tell me how he died then?"

The man furrowed his brow and his silvery eyes quavered. "W-well, how should I know?" he asked. Another uncomfortable delay followed. "…Team Rocket decimated our town. It was a calculated operation that started two weeks ago. First, they took the Slowpoke, our town's famous mascots. No one fought back out of fear; we thought they would leave after they had taken what they wanted. They subverted our Gym Leader, Bugsey, and still, no one fought the group of vandals believing this was all temporary, and that the Pokemon League would surely intervene. But there was no aid from the Indigo Plateau. No acknowledgement of Team Rocket's presence. Our people could not even flee through the Ilex Forest to Goldenrod for help. Instead, we had to hunker down. By the time the townsfolk realized this was a slow attrition, it was too late. Their heinous dogs were set loose to pillage the rest of the village."

"WHAT?!" Feyera could not believe what he was hearing. He didn't know what he hated more, Team Rocket or the way that the town's destruction was orchestrated. "You didn't fight back? You allowed them to ransack the entire town?! How… How could you…? How could anyone stand by and just allow that to happen?!"

"You have to understand, it wasn't my choice to fight back. I had too much to lose. And yet, I was ultimately foolish. Our town's mayor, and Azalea's de facto leader, established a faux treaty with Team Rocket. He honestly believed they would leave us town-folk alone if we just gave them what they wanted – the Slowpoke. We're simple folks out here." The older man shook his head. "How could we hope fight back? The thugs who came for them were armed with advanced firearms and more vicious Pokemon than you can imagine. One of them was capable of bending the fabric of reality itself. It was truly a terror to behold … so wickedly unnatural."

"That sounds like the Team Rocket I know," Feyera growled. He could feel his temper rising. "Looks like their ranks out here abuse the people of Johto just as much as those from Kanto," he said conclusively.

"Kanto?" he repeated with a look of distaste. "You wouldn't understand, city-slicker. At least Kanto has the International Police Force intercepting every move the Rockets make – forcing them to act with some amount of discretion. Here in Johto, we aren't as lucky. Outside of the major cities, the population dwindles, allowing ample opportunity for unchecked criminal activity. Even the local sheriff was being paid in revenue from the Rocket's crimes of selling Slowpoke Tails."

"That's unpleasant, but not uncharacteristic of Team Rocket. I've seen this unrestrained malice before however," Feyera said as a chill ran up his side, causing him to impulsively clutch at his heart just thinking about the Pokemon Tower. "Small villages on the frontier of society may have little defense, but you should know Team Rocket also makes their appearance in populated areas, like Celadon City."

"Celadon you say?" asked the man his eyes faintly lighting up, if only for a brief moment. "I have a good friend from that city."

"You do?" Feyera asked.

The man said frankly, "My friend from Celadon hasn't gotten back to me in quite some time and - truth be told - I fear the worst. You wouldn't happen to know much about the city would you?"

"Maybe I know a few things about it. However… You've continuously danced around the question, and haven't told me who you are. Although, I certainly have a strong feeling that you're the person I'm looking for." His eyes suddenly felt very warm, and he had to actively concentrate on suppressing his psyonics from being employed on the older man. _"No… I can't use it,"_ he whispered to himself,_ "I won't let it…control me…I'm in control."_

"Is something the matter with you?" asked the man as Feyera covered his eyes with his hand, feigning a rub to his forehead.

"No, nothing's wrong," Feyera said shortly. "Just, call it a hunch I've been having this whole time." Lowering his hand from his head, his once glimmering eyes lost their paranormal luster as his will overcame the urge to indulge in the stolen power once again. _"I did it, I resisted using it,"_ he thought, feeling relieved.

"Then how about you tell me something: who sent you here to find Kurt?" the man said, finally giving ground to his identity.

"A man named Fredrick Irving sent me to find you," Feyera said with conviction.

"Fredrick?!" exclaimed the man, with a shocked look on his aged face. "Of the International Police? By Jove, you must be joking! Why didn't you say so sooner? Are you his messenger or something? Is he coming to save our town from Team Rocket?"

"Since you know about him, you must be his contact, Kurt." Although feeling deeply troubled, Feyera did not hesitate with his answer, "Listen, I don't know how to say this, but Fredrick is no longer with us. He… well, he couldn't possibly still be alive after everything that happened in the Sevii Islands."

"Impossible!" denied Kurt raising an angry clenched fist into the air. "Fredrick's a hero and a dear old friend of mine." His cragged face was flushed with anger. "Don't you dare say such things!"

"I wouldn't say it unless it was true. Fredrick was like a father to me; his sacrifice is the only reason why I'm still alive today with my Pokemon." Feyera tried his best to not recall the scene in vivid detail. "It was a noble act," he said, "I have no reason to lie to you about the deceased."

Kurt bowed his head. "Then, that means no one is going to save us. Damn. All is lost," he whispered solemnly retreating into his own forlorn thoughts. "Without his help we're doomed."

"No!" Feyera slammed his open hand on the wooden table. "That's where you're wrong, Kurt! I'm going to finish what Fredrick started and put an end to this madness! That's my mission as a reformed man."

"Pah, you? Reformed? Don't make me laugh. You're barely old enough to pass for twenty. You haven't had the years to reform anything, you're still wet behind the ears."

"Don't mock me, old-timer," he replied stubbornly. "At least I actually want to do something to try and change the world. Unlike you."

Kurt laughed nervously, "Hah, kids these days with their overblown hubris. Don't you see? You can't change anything. And do you want to know why? Because Team Rocket has no boundaries. You get in their way - they'll kill you then and there without even flinching. Their unrestrained greed in the name of profit will strike fear even into the self-righteous. Consider this for a moment: the Pokemon League allows the Rockets to operate legally under their poorly veiled fronts and proxies. By Jove, some of the certified Gym Leaders have connections to Team Rocket."

Truth be told, this did not surprise Feyera. "Gym Leaders are no saints, that much I've learned the hard way," he said thinking about Brucie and how Koga had mercilessly used the most vicious of battle techniques during their 'regulation' battle in Fuchsia City. In fact, this grim information only served to further his convictions regarding the dystopian society he lived in. "The battles, the gyms, the badges, all of it is just an elaborate way to distract people from what's really going on. And I, of all people, fell for it. It was my Pokemon – my friends – that suffered though for my mistake."

"People rule the civilized world, that much is true, and when people are in positions of power, sometimes that power gets to their head," Kurt said with a long sigh. "Unpleasant concept - considering you never know who will remain true to their convictions when they are given a role of authority."

"I'm not afraid of those people though," Feyera said stubbornly, though he wasn't sure whether he was trying to convince himself or the man he was speaking to. Either way, he shook his head and pressed onward saying, "The world may be terribly corrupted, but I won't allow those irrational fears to rule it. Instead, I'll forge my own path forward."

"It's not only you though, there are other people in this world that fear the atrocities people and Pokemon are capable of committing." His bushy eyebrows furrowed low. "Fear paves the way for those who wish to exploit those terrors. In a sense, fear is cyclical. It feeds off itself. Feedback responses further encourages it in more and more people. People's fears rule everything around them with an iron fist. The sooner you learn that, the better."

"Fredrick taught me not to be afraid. He refused to fear Team Rocket and Cipher even when his own life was in mortal danger. …That's why I'm here." Feyera paused, and the feeling of remorse began sinking in. "And you know what, Kurt? That actually meant something to me. All my life I've been running away instead of facing my fears."

"Fear is necessary for survival lest you forget," insisted Kurt. "The only reason Team Rocket hasn't murdered the last threads of my family is because I built defenses around my house! Like you said, as a group they're too powerful to fight head-on. There's no help coming from the International Police, the best I can do is keep them at bay until…"

"No," Feyera said with a stern expression and not allowing him to finish that hopeless sentence. "That's where you're wrong, Kurt. You might be able to delay their advance with your security contrivances, but if they force your granddaughter Maisy to live in the shadow of the place you once called home out of fear, then in the end, there are no victors, only people who have lost what it means to really live."

Those words seemed to resonate with Kurt. "You cannot expect to defeat them all," he replied, "doing so would be a death wish."

"I do not intend to fight them all. Just their leaders. Cut off the head of an Ekans and the body dies. That's why I'm here. I need your help, Kurt." Feyera raised a clenched fist into the air. "Let's put an end to Team Rocket together!"

"Forget it, kid. They killed my daughter!" Kurt's eyes welled with emotion. "Shot her in the back with a Gauntlet as she tried to run to safety after the first raids on the town! The fucking bastards had their Houndoom drag her body away before she was even dead! I could never explain the awful scene to my granddaughter. H-how do you explain such malice to a child?!" Kurt sniffled as tears began to form. He quickly wiped them away with the sleeve of his shirt. "No, you simply cannot explain it. How can you explain something so awful? It is utterly futile to try to comprehend that evil, much less explain it. All I've done, everything I've done since that terrible day is try to protect Maisy from the horrors this wicked world."

"I think I understand now. But I have one more question for you: Do you honestly think that's the end of it?" Feyera asked with a determined expression on his face. "They're not going to stop. Not yet. Innocents – your loved ones – have died because of Team Rocket's wickedness, yes, but if you do nothing but hide instead of facing your fears, you allow them to continue their atrocities unchecked! Surely with all your wisdom you must be able to see that!"

"You have a youthful spirit, Feyera. I'll give you that. But it is not enough to face Team Rocket with ideals; you need strategy, powerful Pokemon, and defenses to the firearms they'll be using against you."

"It's possible to outsmart them without overpowering them." Feyera crossed his arms. "You're just too old and set to do anything about what's happening right before your eyes. Do you think you're the only one in the world who has seen what evil Team Rocket is capable of?" That definitely struck a nerve, and judging from Kurt's enraged expression Feyera was not certain if it had worked. "My Gardevoir, Sana, and I are linked by our hearts because of what Team Rocket did to an innocent Pokemon. I have this piece of a dead Pokemon embedded in my chest as a memento to remind me every day."

"I figured that was unnatural," Kurt answered with a perplexed expression as he glared at his heart shard. "It only made sense to me once I saw the Pokemon you were with."

"That's right, but because of this fragment of a deceased Pokemon, I can help you," Feyera said confidently. "You need to trust me with what you know if we're going to stand a chance against Team Rocket. I'll do whatever it takes to bring Team Rocket to justice for what they've done here to your town. At the very least, I can manage to take out their leader with a sacrificial Psychic attack. If you won't help me, I'll go find them myself and end this nonsense on my own."

"No," Kurt shook his head, "Don't throw away your life."

"You'll help me then?" Feyera asked making an ultimatum clear to Kurt.

Kurt gave him a stern nod in response. "If that will stop you from acting with such reckless abandon," he said.

"Fair enough," said Feyera feeling relieved to have obtained a new ally.

"Humph! You young types sure are stubborn, you know that?" Kurt shook his head. "They've set up an underground camp in the Slowpoke Well to the east." He pointed in the direction Feyera and Sana had come from upon arriving in Johto. "Rumor has it that their recent Slowpoke Tail operation is a cover for something much more sinister."

"What do the tails of Slowpoke have to do with anything?" Feyera asked feeling puzzled.

"Good question," he nodded. "Say, can't you use your connection with Psychic Pokemon to help you figure it out?"

"It doesn't work like that, Kurt," replied Feyera with a disgruntled sigh. "I can barely control my own heart, let alone Sana's. We're both new at this, albeit for different reasons." His handicap was obvious considering he was a human, but even Sanaria - with years of experience - had shown deterioration in her abilities due to the way their hearts had been linked before the events of Evercrest. Thankfully, she showed promise of recovering slowly after their hearts had first touched, and that fact alone made Feyera feel some semblance of happiness considering the emotional damage to her might not be permanent.

"Ah, that was a foolish question then," Kurt said picking up a beige-billed cap and placing it over his shabby white hair.

"No it wasn't; honestly, I've heard worse," he replied. "Even with the power of my Pokemon at my side, I'm no wish maker – I can't work miracles."

"Indeed, you're not. Or surely you would have foreseen my field of mines," said Kurt smugly.

"Yeah." Feyera grumbled, taking a moment to massage his bandaged wound which was thankfully no longer quite as rife with pain. "Touché, old timer."

Kurt forced a tight smile at that. "You probably know this better than I do from your firsthand knowledge, but Psychic types all have different forms of telekinetic power, and each one emanates from somewhere within the mind."

"_Sheesh," _he thought to himself, _"if Sana heard that, I bet she'd correct him and go on an explanation about how the heart is different from the mind and… _–_ Wait, why the hell am I channeling __her__ beliefs anyway?"_ Feyera tapped his foot anxiously on the wooden floorboards. Had she rubbed off on him that much? What was going on with him? Rather than dwell on it, he quickly asked Kurt, "Your granddaughter mentioned that you kept a Slowpoke as a pet. So, you ought to know, what makes their tails special?"

"Well," Kurt began to explain, "A Slowpoke's tail contains a rare type of regenerative protein molecule that's important for their evolution. You see, Slowpoke fish for food with their tails in shallow bodies of water. It's necessary for a Shellder to latch on to their tail in order for them to properly evolve. However, as you can imagine, not all fish happen to be Shellder. Sometimes their tail becomes a snack for other Pokemon, which is why - to ensure they can still evolve - their tail needs to be able to regenerate."

"No kidding. I always thought that species had little to offer - what with their dim-witted stare," Feyera replied recollecting an image of the pudgy pink creature he had seen in a recent Pokemon Weekly magazine. "They sure have an unusual behavior, even for Pokemon."

"The Slowpoke are a species known for their longevity, despite appearing to be absent minded they are surprisingly resilient," said Kurt as he scratched behind one of his sagging ears pressed firmly under the cap he now wore. "Their genetic code has changed very little over the centuries, similar to Pokemon found at the bottom of the ocean. That's why their tails are considered valuable for research purposes. There's even an old wives' tale that they have the power to grant a longer lifespan when consumed."

"So…" Feyera muttered, rubbing his chin in thought, "If they're truly just in it for the money, Team Rocket would be expecting to turn a profit by cultivating the tails of the Slowpoke?"

"Right. However, Team Rocket doesn't cultivate them. The tails grow back, but it takes far too long to happen. Instead they've been breeding them and discarding the offspring after severing their tails. Whenever the well floods, the tailless baby carcasses wash up," he explained with a sad look on his aged face. "Then they sell the small tails in mass quantities, and presumably make a small fortune on the black market."

"Grisly, but that sounds about right. So, they're selling them at an exorbitant price in order to make money. But who would buy them? And why take the risk if they're considered important your town? It doesn't make sense, sure a rich trainer may have the money, but it's clearly not a long-term, sustainable plan," pondered Feyera with a puzzled expression. "Something's missing here."

"See that's the rub, kid," Kurt agreed. "It just doesn't add up as a sound business strategy. This is what I do know: if the Slowpoke Tails were valuable on their own, then Team Rocket would be cultivating or cloning them – they have the technology to do so."

Feyera nodded. "I'm well aware of their dabbling in ethically questionable forms of technology," he then said with a deep feeling of personal regret.

"Instead of setting up a base," Kurt lowered both his hands to gesture, "the captured Pokemon are taken underground, and never seen again. Then their offspring's tailless corpses wash up. But why are they being taken underground in the first place? Wouldn't a laboratory be more suitable?"

"Yes. Then…that means…" but the young researcher was still feeling stumped. "There has to be another angle to this we're not seeing. From what I've learned, Team Rocket may act like an autonomous entity, but they will answer to other criminal organizations out there if it profits them."

"There's only one thing I can think of -" The man walked over to a low shelf nearby and picked up a laminated scroll. He then unraveled it on the table, placing two oddly shaped Pokéballs at either end in order to weigh it down. It was a map of the local area from the looks of it, the general topography appeared unchanged; however, the outline of the town no longer appeared anything like the way it was portrayed. Judging from that, it had to be an older map. With a point, he directed Feyera's attention to the eastern region of the diagrammatic. "- Here. The Union Cave. It sits further east of the Slowpoke Well, but rumor has it that the caverns are connected by a subterranean source river deep underground. Some people theorize that it links vast regions of Johto together with its labyrinthal passageways, and that these channels are navigated by a Pokemon called Lapras. Most of the deep caverns are treacherously steep and sealed off by landslides so there's no telling for sure how far they go. Worse still, adventurers used to become very sick just from visiting the Pokemon that lived there, yet the only poison types that live there are the Golbat. Strange, don't you think?"

"What's so odd about the Golbat living there?" Feyera asked tapping the bandage on his leg nervously.

"In case you didn't already know, Golbat drain the life force of their victims with a well-placed Bite attack followed by Leech Life. And if they manage to strike you with their Poison Fang, they won't allow you to escape, because their secreted poison takes time to replenish. From a predatory standpoint, this makes the use of their poisonous move valuable and they'll unrelentingly follow through with a Confuse Ray or emit Supersonic waves in order to disorient their prey and assure a kill. However, the trainers getting sick carried repels as they searched for Lapras, and never even encountered a single Golbat on their quest for the rare Pokemon deep in the caverns. Furthermore, they never had any bite marks; it was as if the environment itself had poisoned them."

"Hmm… Sickness from spending time underground…" Feyera snapped his fingers, "That's it! This is just like what happened at Mount Moon! Team Rocket must be excavating the buried Mercurium!"

Surprisingly the other man's eyes lit up. "What was that? Did you say Team Rocket is searching for Mercurium?"

"Yes," Feyera said hesitantly, "It's an ancient material with properties I'm keen on researching. Based on what I've learned from Cipher, exposure to it in its unrefined form can alter an organism's genetic code resulting in acute sickness and even cause mutations."

"Ah, that would make sense. I didn't think natural Mercurium was still dormant in the deep pockets of the earth. Then again, there is not much natural about Mercurium. I suppose you're proof that its unpurified form still exists."

"Exactly and – wait, what? How am I proof of anything?"

"Hah. Do you take me for a fool simply because I am your elder?" cracked the old man.

"Uh, well considering you're a hermit living out here in a minefield I am rather surprised," Feyera impulsively replied, his eyes aglow with characteristic curiosity. _"Fredrick knew that Kurt had some information on the Mercurium after all!"_ he thought excitedly to himself. "Now, why don't you tell me what you know about Mercurium?"

"Very well, but you may not like what I have to say," Kurt said warningly.

"I've had to accept my fair share of things in the past –" He looked down at his heart, "– Even if they didn't make any sense. Go ahead and try me."


	7. The Mystery of Mercurium

**Chapter 7: The Mystery of Mercurium**

* * *

><p>Kurt crossed his arms and motioned over to a nearby desk with his eyes. "See those?" he asked. Feyera looked at where he was directing and to his surprise he saw a collection of round, chestnut shaped objects atop a well-balanced workbench. They had little caps on their tops making them appear somewhat unbalanced, and were fastened with a loop of refined woody resin that encircled their plump circumference.<p>

"Those are…?" he began to say, but Feyera honestly wasn't sure, so he walked up to the bench and had a closer look. They were a bizarre mixture of organic and synthetic components. He touched one and it felt smooth, as if its natural unevenness had been thoroughly sanded. The spheres were comprised of naturally blended colors, ranging from red to violet, the fruit of some strange plant no doubt. However, what differentiated them from being completely organic was a small metal latch fastened to their plum-like centers. "Actually, I have no idea," he said feeling stumped. "They're certainly not conventional Pokéballs made entirely from metal. What do you call them?"

"The _Bonguri Fruit_," answered Kurt. "Our ancestors first used these over six hundred years ago in the process of capturing Pokemon. They are called 'Apricorn' today by most lay folk."

The sturdy workbench had several of the fascinating contraptions laid upon it; judging from all of the pieces of wood scattered about close by, these Apricorns were at different phases in their construction. They were clearly Pokéballs based on their form, but were made of nearly entirely organic compounds. "Uh huh. You…made these things?" he asked picking up a yellowish sphere with a crescent shape on its top. It felt quite a bit lighter than a Pokéball, no doubt due to a lesser amount of metal used in its structure. He tossed it up into the air and caught it, admiring its lightweight and predictable trajectory. "Not bad."

"Well, let's say I contributed," Kurt said tersely and a bit of a country twang in his voice. "I'm a Pokéball artisan. One of the last of a chosen few in this age shown how to make 'em the old fashioned way; that is, by the sweat of my brow. You have to understand, when the process became automated by factories, like the one out in Kalos, people as a whole started to forget the nature of our world originally gave us the tools to create the first 'Pokéballs'."

"No kidding," Feyera replied nonchalantly. "Nature huh?"

Kurt gave him a disapproving look. "Have you ever wondered how a Pokéball actually works?" he asked. "Or how Pokemon are able to fluently manipulate the world around them?"

"No, but I'm assuming it has something to do with the Mercurium."

"To be fair," Kurt started to answer, "Pokemon trainers are often ignorant enough to gallopade around the globe without a concrete understanding of how their primary tools function. Bah! In this day and age that's considered par for the course."

Frustrated, Feyera crossed his arms as if a nerve had been struck. He wondered whether he had become one of those trainers Kurt was describing. "Getting my trainer's license was surprisingly easy now that you mention it."

"Of course it was," Kurt granted. "You barely have to demonstrate minimum competency nowadays."

"Hey," Feyera snapped, "if you're insinuating I'm not competent as a trainer –"

"Your words; not mine," Kurt said dismissively.

"Whatever. I didn't come here to show off my trainer card. That is irrelevant, what really matters is how Pokéballs and the Apricorns you grow around here work."

"As luck would have it," replied Kurt, "these particular fruits only grow on trees in this part of the world. What that means is before the process became fully automated, the development of these capture devices was limited to our region of the globe. As you can imagine, this made them a special export, highly sought after by the rest of the world. As for what makes them special, the plants that produce the fruit have a certain genetic encoding intimately linked to your so-called Mercurium."

"How'd you learn the trade?" asked Feyera as he picked another one of the Apricorns up from the workbench. This variety was quite a bit larger with some cobalt colored mounds on the sides of its grey exterior. After tossing it up into the air and catching it, the weight seemed to match that of a conventional Pokéball despite the differences in size, this ball was larger and yet lighter than a typical metal Pokéball. "Did you have a mentor teach you?"

"Hmm, no. I did not have mentor in the traditional sense. Though I followed his example, my first mentor never actually knew me," Kurt said frowning. "And even though I'm sure those versed in my trade will continue to pass it down to future generations, I won't know who my successor is. That's the tragic thing about learning the secret of the Apricorn; my heir may be able to learn about who I was, yet – all throughout my life – I would have no idea that I was their predecessor even if I saw them pass by me on a regular basis…"

"So, how'd you actually learn how to make these things anyway?" he asked ignoring the old man's presumably confused ramblings.

"Hah. You and the rest of the world wouldn't believe me if I told you. That's part of the reason why my craft is so rare. You see, a special Pokemon that lives beyond the gate to the west of this town showed the process to me when I was just a young boy, not much older than Maisy," Kurt reminisced.

"Excuse me?" Feyera's jaw dropped. "You said a Pokemon showed you how to make Pokéballs?"

"Naturally," Kurt said with a faint smile. "Pokemon and Pokéballs are two sides of the same coin."

"I never would have thought that." Feyera scratched his head. He recalled Sana being vehemently opposed to Pokéballs after all. She hated the very idea of Pokéball capture and was rather vocal about it unlike Brucie, Des and July. Feyera saw no easy way to force her to be captured by a traditional way. However the more he thought about it, the more he realized that his heart core had in a roundabout method captured her, or at the very least kept her close by. "That's very odd," he cynically replied, "so this special Pokemon actually wanted you to learn how to make Pokéballs?"

"Right you are," Kurt nodded. "It was so important that I saw the very first one ever made with Apricorn."

"Whoa, whoa, hold up there, pops!" he said suddenly worrying that Kurt had dementia. "You're not making any sense. You just said a minute ago that these were first made by your ancestors six hundred years ago!"

"Is it that hard to believe?"

"Well, yes actually," grouched Feyera. "After all, what you are implying defies all reason. How on earth could you witness the first Apricorn being made if that occurred six hundred years in the past? It simply doesn't make sense, old timer."

"Do you know anything about the Ilex Forest Guardian, Feyera?" Kurt asked with a gaze of seriousness on his weary face.

"No." He shook his head. "Who or what is that?"

"It's a Pokemon also known as the 'Voice of the Forest' in these parts," said Kurt. "It lives – or rather – it is always bound to return to the forest where it was conceived. To put it another way, the forest and the Pokemon are the same living being in different forms. You may know of it as the legendary Pokemon Celebi."

"Never mind the legendary part about that; you're saying Celebi was the one who taught you how to make Apricorns?"

"Indeed it did. However, it didn't teach me; rather, it showed me. That's its nature. Celebi is a small creature that can show you various points in time, but only in the forested area where it has made its domain. That's because it is actually sharing its primeval memory with you, being a Psychic type. It just so happens that the first Apricorns were made here in the forest bordering Azalea hundreds of years ago."

"But surely what you saw was a hallucination," Feyera insisted. "You couldn't have actually traveled through time and seen something from six hundred years ago. Legendary Pokemon or not, that's preposterous."

"Then our conversation is over," Kurt said stubbornly crossing his arms. "If you will not believe me, then what is the point of taking the time to share the information I've acquired through personal experience?"

"Damn. You sure are stubborn, you know that?" Feyera answered trying hard not to break into a smile. He knew even his own dogmatic adherence to rationality had its limits. Of course, he blamed Sana for wearing him down. "Fine, I'm not saying I believe you… but I'll entertain the thought that Celebi showed you how to make Apricorns. My question however, is why a Pokemon would want you – a human – to know how to do that? Wouldn't Pokemon be against getting captured?"

"Were you not listening before when I told you?" rebuked Kurt. "Pokemon and Pokéballs are two sides of the same coin."

"Sure, sure. I've got that image in my head now," Feyera lied. Just trying to imagine the abstract concept was making him feel lightheaded. How could they possibly be one and the same? Pokemon were organic, living creatures and their capsules were very much the opposite – static, hollow globes that contained them. "The problem is Pokéballs – an object – wind up holding a Pokemon – a being – within them. Wouldn't that make them more of a prison than anything else?"

"Hmm. Would you call your body a prison for your mind?" Kurt gave him a dubious look. "Pokéballs aren't inherently evil devices despite what radical Pokemon Rights groups might have you think. In many ways they are necessary, not only for our society to function smoothly, but also for the Pokemon themselves. The Pokéball has one particularly important function, which often enough goes unmentioned because it has been forgotten about – it connects the Pokemon back to the Source of its origin. Prolonged disconnection from this Source and the Pokemon eventually forgets its origin, returning instead to its default primal instincts. As I'm sure you've seen, wild Pokemon tend to have less restraint than those which have been captured."

"So what?" he derisively replied. "You've seen trainer's Pokemon lash out without restraint. You know as well as I do, mere capture doesn't stop Pokemon from being coldblooded killers."

"Then you've pinpointed the heart of the issue," Kurt said. "According to Celebi, that has been an issue since the start of its sentience as a Forest Guardian. I've had time to reflect upon what Celebi told me years ago. Many years of my life have been spent pondering the potential implications, and it still sets me into a fit of despair whenever I think about it."

"Oh?"

"The issue is humanity, according to Celebi," said Kurt with a frown. "Stated simply, some people are good, others are not. Thankfully, most of us fall somewhere in between those two extremes."

"How could everything wrong in this world be blamed on humanity?" Feyera disagreed. "There are good people in the world like Fredrick. It sounds to me like Celebi sees humanity as a scapegoat for the world's problems. I wouldn't trust it."

"You have a point. Maybe it's right, maybe it's wrong about the future. The important thing to remember here is what it thinks of the world around it. Even if Celebi turns out to be wrong about us humans, it still has made up its mind based on what it has seen," Kurt said with a worried look on his face.

"Who cares what it sees? The past might be fixed, but I refuse to believe that the future is set in stone. We're not bound by what a Pokemon says about us because of our free will."

"Regrettably, from time to time that defining trait of free will interferes with the natural order." Kurt seemed to be thinking about something cumbersome based on the level of gravity in his voice. "What Celebi told me when I was just a young boy was this: '_like the moon reflects the light of the sun, Pokemon often reflect the spirit of their human companions; however, light is not a single color_.'"

"An overly simplistic analogy if you ask me," Feyera concluded bitterly. "Do me a favor and let's bring this whole discussion back down to earth: say I was able to capture a Pokemon, what happens to it?" As far as he could remember, he had always gone to the local Pokemart to buy his capture devices without giving the whole process much thought. Using his hand, he gestured with the Apricorn he was holding. "It goes into the ball and… then what?"

"Why, it returns back to its Source until it is released," replied Kurt. "That's the reason why Pokéballs contain derivatives of Mercurium within their cores."

"Its 'Source' you say?" Feyera repeated more perplexed than before. "What's that?"

"Simply put, the Pokemon becomes what it once was in its purest form. It reverts back into energy, which is sealed within the container. Mercurium, as an organic catalyst, promotes the transformative energy conversion. Even a small amount of it is capable of changing living matter into different forms, including pure energy."

"But what IS that?" he demanded, unsatisfied with the ambiguous answer Kurt gave. "You make these Pokéballs so explain the process to me."

"Only a Pokemon could explain it to you, Feyera. What the Pokemon becomes upon entering that state is truly mysterious to mortals. It's not something you can easily measure; for the Pokemon, it is an experience, a glimpse into the very beginning." Kurt slowly began to explain, "And what you call 'Mercurium' is at the very center of that process known as 'Reversion' – or 'The Return'."

"So in that case, what you call 'Source' would be the state of matter sealed within the Pokéball. Yet what does the Pokéball – or Apricorn for that matter – have to do with Mercurium?" he asked.

"You told Maisy you were a doctor; I would've expected you to have at least a minimal understanding of it."

"I'm more of an ex-doctor," Feyera said insistently as he shook his head, deciding not to blame amnesia any more. "I'm not researching any longer, that time in my life has passed, and it's a bit of an empty title now. Besides, ever since I left that position, most of my labor has consisted of fieldwork instead of theory."

Kurt's slumped figure acknowledged him with a heavy nod. His old, wintery eyes seemed to understand that there had been a change in his profession as a Pokemon researcher. Perhaps he too had misgivings about his past, but he held those secrets close to his heart. Kurt did admit to having connections to the famous Professor Oak, which in and of itself was mildly suspicious considering how removed from the nexus of professionals in that field Kurt had become. He answered Feyera with a musing question, "In your opinion, what is the difference between the truth sought and the truth found?"

"Is that some sort of trick question?" Feyera paused for a moment and raised his hand under his chin. He bowed his head in deep thought. "Truth is truth," he said shortly thereafter raising his head with conviction. "When you know the truth, only then is there no difference between what you seek and what you find. That's because truth is unchanging by its definition. When I expect it to be something it hasn't revealed itself as, I'll make mistakes every time."

Kurt gave him a surprised gaze, raising a bushy white eyebrow in response to his answer. "So you would assert that the truth people go out of their way to seek is not the same as the actual, real truth?"

"Yeah. I suppose so," he replied with a slightly haphazard expression. "I'll admit I don't know the truth behind Mercurium; however, truth is still what I seek. At this point, I don't even have a hypothesis. All I know is that Mercurium was sought by Team Rocket and Cipher, for different reasons, but I don't know exactly why other than its rarity. As a former scientist, as a man of reason, I need to know. Most of all, I need to know because of my own connection to the mysterious material," Feyera said pointing to his heart.

"Very well. But I must warn you first, many trainers are kept in the dark and are not given the entire story about the synergetic relationship between Pokemon and Pokéballs," said Kurt. "Bear in mind that the actual truth thwarts the idealistic world consisting of sought truths."

"To be honest, I do not know what to believe anymore," Feyera sighed. "My world has been turned around, upside-down, and inside-out so many times. I just want to know what's really true in this world besides myself and the Pokemon I've traveled with."

"Ho ho. That might be a good enough start then." Kurt smiled brightly.

"You think so?" he asked feeling embarrassed to be as clueless as he was.

"Yes. Quite. Actually I couldn't have hoped for a better answer from you," Kurt said happily. "Right then, if you want to understand the connection between Mercurium, Pokéballs and Pokemon we need to take a step back in time."

"Back in time? You're not being literal are you?" he nervously asked.

"Figuratively of course," Kurt clarified. "Celebi has no power outside the domain of the forest it is connected to. Remember, Celebi contains the same exact life-force as the forest it inhabits; and this is not all too different from the relationship between Pokemon and Pokéballs."

"Somehow that answer doesn't make me feel any better," Feyera grumbled. "I for one never even met this Celebi you're talking about!"

"Ahem! If you're done bellyaching now," Kurt impatiently rebuked, "I'd like to finish what I was saying."

"Fine, go right ahead. Humor me."

"You're well aware that many centuries ago, there was a cataclysmic event, one which ended the old world called the Terminal War."

"Sure, I've heard about it. 'Terminal' is a bit of a misnomer though, since, well, here we are talking about it," Feyera answered with a snide remark. "Of course, I would say no one knows much about it, let alone what civilization was like before then."

"Not entirely true. The powers that be – the Pokemon League – insists that the world before the catastrophic war was abundant with Pokemon." Kurt gave a sour look. "And of course they would, since it is in their best interest people don't question the new regime established in the wake of the Great War which later followed."

"You certainly seem to have it out against the Pokemon League." Feyera could read him like an open book. Surely he was upset about the lack of aid sent to help Azalea in time, but the way he described the Pokemon League made it sound like they were a malevolent entity.

"Why wouldn't I?" Kurt asked rhetorically. "Our mutual friend, rest his soul, was on the trail of something enormous the Pokemon League was trying real hard to cover up. With him gone, we may never find out what they were up to."

"I thought Fredrick was working in tandem with the Pokemon League," said Feyera.

"He must have not told you then. Probably was for your own protection now that I think about it. His investigations into the Pokemon League's activities often had him working ironically under the guise of the League's authority. However, Fredrick was an official of the International Police, through and through."

"I didn't know that he was a double agent." It made sense now why Fredrick hadn't reported his psyonics to the Pokemon League and had instead taken matters into his own hands.

"Fredrick was on a mission to expose corruption and deliver his own flavor of justice. That's who he was as a man. The Pokemon League made his job more difficult. It was much more difficult than exposing known syndicates such as Team Rocket, because the League's always in compliance with their own rules."

"What did Fredrick tell you about the League then?"

"Not much at all," Kurt said sadly. "Always said that it was classified and all. Although in retrospect I probably should've pressured him for more info. I'm still in shock over his death. What I know about the League consists of these three things: first, their deception convolutes the history of the origins of Pokemon. Secondly, they've furnished propaganda messages that severely undercut the level of technical knowledge required by most trainers. And then finally of course there's the badge hunting everyone's obsessed with, which cartelizes Hidden Machines necessary for trainers to travel in certain ways with their Pokemon."

"That really isn't much to go on," Feyera said hoping to have heard more convincing incriminating evidence.

"It can't be helped. They're an organization more concerned with encouraging trainers to take part in their sports than the actual protection of people."

"For them to not investigate into this town which had an official gym set up seems very peculiar. Especially following the recent attacks by a gang of criminals like Team Rocket."

"That's what I'm saying, kid," Kurt agreed. "Something about this whole thing stinks of something foul and unfortunately we're no closer to figuring it out without Fredrick."

"So it looks like their current motives are well concealed, but what about the discrepancy about the origin of Pokemon? Shouldn't that give us some information in regards to their motives?"

"It just may," replied Kurt. "Only a few individuals have been able to gather bits of a hidden truth, despite the League's collaborated effort to conceal such things from the general populace."

"A hidden truth?" Feyera repeated with a curious glance at the shelves of tools stacked behind Kurt. What could this old man from the countryside possibly know that other people didn't? "Why hide the truth?"

"You can decide that one for yourself, young man," Kurt said. "Keep in mind that the aftermath of the Terminal War sowed the seeds of the world we now live in. Pokemon and people would not have coexisted otherwise."

"Pokemon and people coexisting? Have they ever not coexisted?" he asked confounded by the suggestion that there was ever a world without one or the other.

"Before the Terminal War, the world only had people and various other creatures that lived in the sea, the sky, and the land. There were no Pokemon like the ones we see today. There existed a great diversity of species, but the creatures of that era were not built the same way as the creatures that exist today known as 'Pokemon'."

"So where did the Pokemon come from?" shrugged Feyera. Then he considered Cipher's underground laboratory which had produced Shadow Pokemon, the current pinnacle of biological warfare. "Wait, don't tell me… Were Pokemon weapons created during the war?"

"Not quite. People of that time had other, far greater weapons that were able to shape the world's physical form," said Kurt. "To quote one of our oldest records following the event by a few centuries: 'the Terminal War brought the sun down to earth, and all of its fury changed the planet forever.'"

"The sun you say?" Feyera shook his head in disbelief. "You do realize that's downright impossible. Perhaps even less likely than your time-traveling adventures with that Celebi Pokemon. Not sure what they teach you country folks out here in your science classes, but the sun is a star millions of miles away."

"Oh, forgive the metaphor, these ancient stories often use such an analogy to describe the type of power," Kurt said with a mope. "You cannot take them literally. Rather, they are allegorical. It was not the actual sun in the sky, but a force of a similar type of energy. And for the people of that time, it surely was the type of unimaginable power only seen beyond our planet."

"Power beyond our planet. What could be beyond our planet?" he wondered, his imagination wandering to what cosmic magnitude of power Kurt could be talking about.

Kurt's expression then darkened. "What we do know is this: there was a development of sorts, a need – if not a dependency – on forces of great power that went beyond the limits of human control."

"I've heard stories about incredibly powerful weapons of ancient times." Feyera's shoulders slumped as he retreated into deep thought. Cipher's Ein had mentioned using the power of the sun. Were the two related? These questions were burning inside his head. "The end of the entire old world… Was it an accident?" Feyera asked in frustration. "Why would such a thing happen?"

"No one from this side of history really knows for sure. We can only make educated guesses…" Kurt lamented with a troubled look in his eyes, "Geological studies show that in those final moments, there was enough energy released to reshape entire continents. The seas swallowed mountains, the once-buried mantle spewed outward in cataclysmic volcanic eruptions as tremendous shockwaves of energy shook the foundation of the planet's crust. Perpetual darkness overtook the skies, and life was set on the brink of extinction."

"Only Pokemon can do those types of things, Kurt. Pokemon that are spoken of in legends and their existence has no way of being verified," he stressed.

"The power of human ingenuity has few boundaries, as I'm sure you're aware. It's truly a miracle any life managed to survive the initial destruction. It all came down to fate – perhaps the will itself, the universal consciousness is stronger than we're willing to acknowledge.

"I still do not understand. How did people manage to do all of that before Pokemon existed?"

"By triggering a coordinated splitting of reality itself. The division of these infinitesimally small building blocks causes cataclysmic effects when carefully orchestrated," Kurt answered frankly. "As absurd as it sounds, reality is comprised of smaller pieces of matter. When humanity first discovered this, it undoubtedly signaled the next stage of our evolution. Our understanding of the infinitesimally small changed our species entirely. Ironically, the discovery also was the end of that old world and the beginning of our own new one."

"That's… possible in theory," Feyera replied. "And if it was possible in the past, it is surely possible again."

"As the legend goes, much of the world became polluted with a terrible blight described as the 'Charring Plague'." Kurt gathered a worn scroll from his shelf and unraveled it on the oak table. The title read in large typed letters "Underground Exploration Of Zone One" and from the looks of it, the document appeared to be some type of map of a man-made cavern, not unlike the Cipher facility on Penta Island. The tunnels stretched like lanky tendrils deep underground, twisting and turning in strange root-like patterns, containing rooms, halls and a myriad of other mysterious places. It all appeared amazingly laid out; each section leading into the next through a system of tunnels linked together, a massive web of vast interconnectedness.

"What is this?" Feyera asked aghast. "An underground prison?"

"The first time I saw it, I said the same thing to Samuel Oak, but that was very long ago," Kurt replied as a brief moment of nostalgia overtook him. "Based on this excavation mission undertaken decades ago, what you see here was an ancient underground base used by our most distant of ancestors. After a large tremor exposed it, it was explored and later mapped out. From the looks of it, ancient people survived the Charring Plague by taking refuge deep underground, though I would imagine most survival came down to dumb luck. If there were other such shelters, surely not all of them were safe when the earth's plate tectonics became unstable."

"That's dismal. An airborne blight would explain the need to dwell underground."

"Yes, the blight was a dangerous condition, unlike any we have ever seen. This brings me back to the initial point I was trying to make. Mercurium and its evolutionary descendants were the solutions to humankind's woes following the Great Collapse of the old world. It was a true wonder which manifested for the sake of our species' continued existence on the damaged world."

"But what exactly is it?" Feyera took a moment to glance at his heart, noting the slight shimmering at its base, near where the heart core touched his chest. "Is it an ancient relic …or something more?"

Kurt nodded, observing the young man's predicament with steady expression. Silently with a hand gesture, he motioned Feyera over toward a different oak table beside him, which was lower to the ground. There was a partially obscured stone tablet resting on the sturdy desk, etched with grooves and chiseled edges. Kurt used his feeble strength to move one of Maisy's toy trucks off the table and expose the slab of rock. "It was Mew," said Kurt with a heavy respire. "The progenitor of all Pokemon."

Feyera observed the strange image set before him. Although it was an archaic illustration, it was depicting clearly a small bipedal Pokemon, with cat-like eyes and a thin tail that was at least the length of its body. The creature appeared to have two tiny horns protruding from the crown of its head, but he was not sure if those were ears. Its diminutive body was a pale color, a silvery roseate with large feet and a pair of small paws.

"Mew?" he repeated, dumbfounded. "You're telling me that Mercurium is actually a Pokemon?"

"It was a Pokemon," said Kurt correcting the tense to past with emphasis. "The very first Pokemon to come into contact with humans."

"That's not possible… How could this be Mew? What I saw that day – the relic in the Pokemon Sanctum looked nothing like that!"

"The Pokemon Sanctum?" Kurt said in alarm. "W-what on earth were you doing there?"

"Never mind that!" Feyera hastily tried to take back what he had just said.

"Not so fast!" Kurt had caught on quickly for an old man. "I want an explanation for why you were there."

"Oh me? Just a bystander that saw Team Rocket break into the ruins, after all the commotion I decided to have a peek inside myself."

"Hrrm. What did you see once you made it inside?" Kurt asked. "Be as detailed as possible so I can help."

Feyera could not tell whether Kurt believed his fabricated story, but he had to leave some critical details out. He figured explaining the scene itself could not hurt. "What I saw in the Sanctum was different. The entire place had strange contrivances, ancient pulley-systems that used hot steam as a source for power. It was very bizarre. Judging by the age of the ruins, it felt like those large vats did not belong from that era. There were also a number of steep tunnels that led down to the lowest level where there was a sort of altar that also seemed out of place – unless it was all an elaborate trap. Regardless, I did not see what your tablet depicted, that's for sure; I would have remembered Mew had I saw it."

"You haven't been listening to what I've been saying. Its body's cells can alter and transform into essentially anything imaginable," Kurt replied. "If you've been inside the Pokemon Sanctum, I'm sure you would have at least known that. Do you remember any vivid details?"

"Hmm… When I fell down a half-collapsed shaft, I wound up in this tall room. The walls were chiseled into spiral stairs that led all the way up beyond a thick stone ceiling to the Sanctum's mezzanine. There was also a crane elevator near the back. Everything was illuminated by a light that emanated from the center of the room. It was an object, a large floating ring that appeared to be made of a swiftly flowing liquid traveling in one direction. Not at all like a Pokemon. Although, after that it took on a different shape and color, a large emerald spike, resembling a plant without roots. In fact, now that I think back, it only changed when I touched it…"

"YOU WENT AND TOUCHED IT?!" Kurt shouted.

"Well yeah," he said sheepishly. "I didn't know – err remember it was Mew at one point. That's how I wound up in this whole mess actually. Had I just left it alone… No, I can't change the past."

"Did you hear any voice when you touched it?"

"No," he answered truthfully. "I was the only one down there as far as I knew."

"I see," Kurt nodded. "Then it wasn't Mew, but a concentration of its preserved power."

"What do you mean by that?"

"If the Pokemon did not respond to you contacting it, then that means it was devoid of consciousness. Meaning it shared more similarities to the remnants of Mercurium scattered underground in Mount Moon and Union Cave," Kurt informed. "Although I would conceive that the volume of the lost genetic sample you came across was of a much higher in potency if it was able to manifest a physical transformation on its own accord without binding itself to organic matter."

"It didn't bind itself to my hand."

"What eventually happened to the plant object the Mercurium ring transformed into?"

"There was another Pokemon," said Feyera, fabricating the story slightly as to not tip Kurt off about his awkward past. "Another Gardevoir was there with Sana at the time. The whole scene was very bizarre. I saw it unleash a Psychic attack from the Pokemon's perspective, and then the waves of force were repelled by the relic I was holding."

"That is strange. I'd reckon the Pokemon was powerful if it managed to stand up to the remnants of Mew's code without being bound back to its Source. Especially considering the level of concentration of Mercurium you described, making physical contact would be nothing short of the fabled Master Ball's power."

"That's the thing. I wasn't trying to catch it; I had a different motive during the battle. Hell, I don't remember even having any Pokéballs with me."

"Why'd you go after it then?" Kurt asked perplexed.

"At first, I thought I was trying to help it. It might have been manipulating me with its powers the whole time, or maybe I initially felt sorry for it. Either way, once I set it loose I saw it as a threat after its manipulation wore off. It had a strong reason to hate me and I could tell; if nothing else, I felt its hatred radiating when I looked into the creature's eyes."

"They are able to project emotions, by virtue of their Psychic typing. And apparently so are you I see. That explains the Pokemon's heart you have."

"I knew you'd figure it out, Kurt," Feyera tried to force a smile. "Considering how old you are, you've still got it."

"Bah, it was obvious from the moment you arrived. You, your very body – " Kurt was studying him with his hoary eyes, " – has been integrated with a derivative of Mercurium, and yet you didn't know anything about its properties?"

"Well, it's not like I became an idiot by choice. Sana had the bright idea to erase my memory after I lunged with the Mercurium into the other Gardevoir she was with," Feyera said. "The only reason she didn't outright kill me is because of this heart that appeared, which she identified as her mate's."

"Fascinating."

"I don't find it anywhere near as fascinating as you do. Thanks to the whole ordeal, I'm a freak of nature."

"It truly is a strange concept though," Kurt said decisively. "Without a Pokéball to contain the energy of the Pokemon Mercurium had bonded with, your body became the catalyst and vessel to cause a Return. That's one theory at least."

Feyera replied with a sardonic remark, "Uh Kurt, how long have you been cooped up here again? Take a good look at me, I'm not a Pokéball. Besides, that doesn't explain the heart of the Pokemon appearing since you told me Pokéballs seal the state of pure energy within them."

"Hmm, good point. Then perhaps that heart is a form of channeling the Pokemon through you and into the physical?"

"I don't think that can be true anymore. The Gardevoir that this belonged to is gone now. It was not able to survive after the psychic bracer on my wrist was overloaded."

"Psychic bracer? I've never heard of such a thing."

"One of Fredrick's ideas." Feyera felt a sense of melancholy looking back at the past and trying to explain it to Kurt. Nevertheless he continued to give unfalsified details, "I told him back in Celadon about how I was unable to control the Pokemon's psionic powers, and how when I used them they caused my body to decay. Frequently, I had no control over these episodes, which turned into a major problem as you can probably imagine. Fredrick fooled me into thinking a psychic bracer was the actual relic from the Pokemon Sanctum. I didn't know any better at the time, so I went along with it, thinking that it was both the cause and the cure for my psyonics. The funny thing is, it was a solution that would have probably worked, since psychics like Sabrina use them and I was actually able to keep the abilities under control for a very long while."

"Oh, that's Fredrick for you. Always doing things his own way without telling you."

"Yeah, come to think of it, I hated him for tricking me when I found out the 'Reilken Mercurius' he presented me with turned out to be a fraud. Then again, once I regained my memories, I should have known it would have been impossible for him to provide the actual relic since it was absorbed when I stab– err I mean, got too close to Sana's partner," he said trying to tone down some of the specifics. "Everything changed after the psychic bracer broke and I nearly lost control of my mind."

"What happened?" Kurt asked him.

"I am still putting all the pieces together, but what I understand is the suppression of the psyonics caused them to amplify in power in order to compensate for the constraints being imposed on them. After the bracer was disabled, the sheer power that had built up was so overwhelming I could barely speak, let alone stand. The next thing I remember there was a struggle occurring right in front of me and then a bright flash of light. When that happened, I felt something inside my heart shattering, the sensation brought me back into the moment, and then everything began to return to normal. However, something was different. I finally felt like the powers had become my own somehow and through this heart – which was now my own – they were under my control."

"Sounds like the Pokemon relinquished its powers to you and passed on."

"Right, and although it's handy, I have no way of splitting back apart since there's only me," Feyera muttered. "That Edge is gone. And I still don't know how to tell Sana that this heart is mine…"

"Sorry, what was that?" Kurt asked.

"Pfft, enough about me," he said hastily. "How can you verify that Mercurium was at one time a Pokemon?"

"Hmm. Verify it?" Kurt snapped open a Pokéball on the shelf beside him. "Just take a look inside a Pokéball. What you'll find in the center of each and every one of 'em is a silvery material coating the inner chamber. See here? This is the substratum of the device. The Pokéball uses artificial Mew DNA to 'transform' a Pokemon back into pure energy – Source."

"Wait, hold on a sec. You're saying me and every other trainer out there have been carrying around legendary Pokemon this entire time inside our Pokéballs?"

Kurt shook his head. "No. Even if you had over a hundred million Pokéballs, it would not be enough to reanimate Mew. Instead, the replica Pokemon Ditto is how nearly all conventional Pokéballs work today; with higher priced Great Balls and Ultra Balls containing purer strands and more volume of the synthetic energy catalyst used to power The Return to Source. For whatever reason, only Apricorn trees contain traces of the original Mew's genetic data in their fruits, but it is such a miniscule amount on all but the ripest of berries."

"Unbelievable. This whole time I had no idea." Feyera was in a state of astonishment. "How can Pokemon like Mew or Ditto's DNA turn matter into energy?"

"Oh ho, I'm glad you finally asked so specifically," Kurt replied with a look of excitement and eager to explain the phenomenon. "One of the most advanced and commonly used technologies in the world is the Pokéball, which transforms a Pokemon into energy so it can be contained in the small ball. In a battle, once the opposing wild Pokémon has been weakened, the trainer will throw a Pokéball at it. Assuming the Pokéball hits it and is not dodged or hit back to the trainer, the Pokéball will open, convert the wild Pokemon to an energy form, pull the energy into its hollow center, and then close. The wild Pokemon will then be given the chance to struggle to try to escape the Pokéball. Pokéballs originated from Apricorns, which as I said are a non-synthetic Pokéball. However, this whole process all goes back to one fundamental equation. _E equals m c squared_. Spelt out, energy equals mass multiplied by the speed of light squared. Notice anything about the two sides of that famous equation? There is energy on one side and mass on the other. Because of that, the two states are made comparable and every piece of matter contains a vast amount of energy."

"Then Mew – and Ditto by extension – exist to do what besides make our lives easier?"

"They facilitate a Pokemon's Return back into a trance-like state of pure energy called Source. Without this process to return to their Source of origin, Pokemon would indeed rule our world through sheer ruthless might begotten by a tireless existence with neither meaning nor rest." Kurt explained, "According to the legend, Mew was the very first Pokemon people made contact with after the Terminal War. Mew explained that it was also the only way humanity could hope to survive the shattered ruins left behind by the Terminal War. Mew entered into a covenant with people, to cleanse the world and make way for new life, so long as there was respite for its offspring to revisit the Source. It then used its unique cells to manipulate energy on a level that was the only way to absorb the high levels of toxicity in the world by converting that into cellular energy. There were many changes throughout the centuries, and eventually through a series of mutations and interactions with the creatures from the environment, Mew became more than one species."

"So according to the legend, Mew saved the world from decaying from the Charring Plague after the Terminal War by making a pact with the humans that survived underground. But over time it changed into many different creatures in order to rid the world of toxins, and because of that the original is gone now."

"Correct. There's no living specimen of the creature because it has changed so much over the years. Even the largest concentrations of Mercurium such as the relic you found in the Pokemon Sanctum are remnants of the original, without sentience. Mercurium samples found underground and the Apricorns fruits themselves contain fragments of the creature's original genetic code. Though these can be carefully studied by scientists, attempts to mimic their properties through cloning are only sufficient enough to create a blob of a replica, Ditto."

"And what happens to those replicated Pokemon?" Feyera asked, but in his heart he already felt he knew the answer.

"Pokéball factories splice the batches of genetically engineered Ditto most similar to Mew in order to create Pokéballs for trainers worldwide. The pieces of Ditto essentially become the man-made catalysts for triggering a Return to Source. You could say that their sacrifice helps other Pokemon find peace by bonding with them on a genetic level and allowing them to return to a state of pure energy."

"…!"

"It may sound horrible," Kurt sighed reading Feyera's distressed expression. "However, that's just the way things are kid. There are simply too many Pokemon and not enough Apricorns in the world to go around. And it isn't like Mew is going to do anything about it after all these years."

"Still, those Pokemon, the Ditto, they exist only to be used as a science experiment," Feyera said feeling a tug at his heart.

"When I was younger I thought I could change the world, but even with the legendary Celebi at my side, I was unable to."

"Then I'll do it."

"What…? H-how?" Kurt asked. "You didn't even know what Mercurium was until I told you!"

"Simple," he said with a look of enthusiasm the belied the difficulty of the problem at hand. "I'll figure out a way where the cloned Ditto don't have to be sacrificed to power the Pokéballs' Return."

"You're talking about solving a problem you don't even understand," said Kurt with a dismissive wave of his hand. "The only reason we have the Pokéball technology curbing the huge population of Pokemon is because of the Ditto produced."

"It's not like I can ignore it now that I know the truth," Feyera exclaimed. "Besides, Cipher has been working on a device that will render a Pokéballs obsolete."

"Render the Pokéball obsolete?!" Kurt gasped. "What are you saying?"

"I don't know all of the technical details, but I saw it happen with my own eyes," said Feyera. "The project's lead, Ein, triggered a large detonation miles above the sky over a remote island. There was a sudden flash of light and an expansive cloud of bright color high above the clouds. The next thing I knew, all my Pokéballs opened without my own doing, their internal circuitry was completely fried and I had to toss them. Luckily, Cipher had found a way to shield the effects of the weapon — as the mechanical devices protected inside their base's walls were still operable. I managed to find replacements thankfully," he said motioning to his holster, "and my Pokemon and I, we were able to make it far away quickly after Fredrick bought us some time by challenging the admins. The power of that weapon, the Phaeton they called it, was terrifying to behold at an enormous distance, and yet the most devastating thing about it was how it damaged all of the electronics."

"This is not good. No, no. Not good at all," Kurt said, his panicked expression revealing the worry he felt.

"Hey, don't stroke out on me now, Kurt. They wouldn't have done it over a remote island with base shielding unless they were testing its properties. I gather that means they have yet to perfect it. Don't you see? We still have time. That's why I need to get to their nerve center in Orre before they finalize the weapon!"

"You need to get to Orre, and you want to stop Team Rocket along the way. There is one thing you can do."

"Go ahead," Feyera said impatiently, "I'm all ears."

"Union Cave links Johto together," Kurt quickly explained with the map he had on his desk. "Team Rocket has set up a base in the caverns no doubt beneath the Slowpoke Well. Right here, see?"

His eyes followed Kurt's crooked finger as it drew a line straight across the region toward a more civilized part of Johto. "If your mission is to stop Cipher from using this Phaeton device, then you'll need to get to an airport, since the Orre region is far beyond our continent. There's a small one in Violet City, as well as an international port in Goldenrod." With a small 'X' he marked the two locations.

"Gotcha."

"Normally the route through Ilex Forest – here – would be safer, but ever since the Slowpoke have been removed from our town, that area has seen an increased number of aggressive Pokemon, no doubt due to sudden changes in the food chain," Kurt explained. "Keep in mind the reason for that is Team Rocket's interference."

"Right, but I doubt disrupting the local ecosystem was something they'd even consider, much less care about. The path through the caves is clearly the only way," Feyera concluded. "I need to investigate what Team Rocket is doing besides cutting off Slowpoke Tails to make some quick cash."

"Right you are," Kurt agreed. "You'll want to head north through the cave, by following the river which flows north to south. That means you want to head upstream."

"Alright," Feyera said, making a mental note. "When I manage to get through the caves, where will I be?"

"That all depends on the route you take. There are a multitude of exists, of course I'll give you this map to help, but depending on what exactly is going on underground, you may have to improvise an exit strategy," said Kurt. "You could wind up in the Ruins of Alph, one of the oldest places on this continent. Luckily, that is not too far from Violet City to the east, and if you go west and cut through the National Park you'll make it to Goldenrod in a few hours."

"I see. So in order to have the advantage of choice, I want to end up in the Ruins of Alph."

"Exactly."

"I've had some experience with archeology," Feyera said recalling the Sanctum expedition. "And I know that not all ruins look alike. What separates the Ruins of Alph from other ruins?"

"Well… the ruins are the location where language was first transcribed into living Pokemon, called Unown."

"So I'm supposed to look for what exactly?" he asked. He had heard that Unown were Pokemon that ancient people had created in order to preserve their written language into a living form. Like many ancient Pokemon though, they only inhabited a particular place, and did not stray far enough away to be studied in great detail by humans.

"Do you have a radio?" Kurt asked him quickly.

"Huh?" Feyera was taken aback by the strange question. "I…err…yeah. Fredrick gave me one back in Kanto –" With a shrug, he grabbed his bag and rustled through the contents to find the small device. "Here it is, pretty sure it's busted though after the blast."

Kurt flipped the switch on the device's side with a click. There was nothing that happened however. No typical static or anything for that matter. "You'll be needing some new circuitry for this."

"Oh, okay, I figured as much. You have some lying around?" Feyera asked.

Kurt smiled. "What kind of sorry Pokéball craftsman would I be if I didn't? Follow me."

The old man was surprisingly quick on his feet as he walked down the hall way and into a smaller room with a collection of metal boards lined up on wall racks. There was no musty scent in the air, and the lighting was much better. This must be his serious workstation. With a clamor of his tools and loud snapping Kurt began taking apart the radio with swift hand dexterity. "Looks like the capacitors are fried. Must have been overloaded. Nothing I can't fix though," he said talking to himself. "Place this here, adjust the diode, and add a bit of solder to complete the circuit… Done."

"Damn, that was quick. You sure are handy."

"Hoho, I try. Let's give it a test now."

This time with a flip of the switch, the radio buzzed to life. Kurt turned the knob and soon they were listening to some far away music station.

"Great work old man," Feyera said thankfully. "And here I was thinking it was just a functionless memento." He took the radio back from Kurt with a smile.

"Now, you might be wondering why a radio is important. However, you've given me an idea, and now I have this vision inside my head for it," Kurt said excitedly. "Mind if I make some modifications to another apparatus on my bench here while I explain the importance of having a radio?"

"Sure, go for it."

"Great," Kurt reached up and grabbed a set of wires and cables from his shelf. He immediately started to work again. He spread out a group of metal pieces on the table and began arranging them in a two-dimensional configuration; this time instead of muttering to himself, he started to explain the reason for having a radio. "When you get to the Ruins of Alph, you'll be able to hear a strange frequency broadcasted on channel 13.5. These sounds are actually the Pokemon Unown, that are able to interfere with the electromagnetic spectrum." There was a loud snap and Kurt grunted as he forced one of the components wiring through the device he was working on. "Some people say they are actually listening to radio programs because of their association with language. Others insist that the two are coincidental. Either way, it is a mystery here in Johto as old as the Radio Tower itself. Obviously the Unown have been around longer than the Radio Tower, but there has been no way to test their relationship with radio waves since prior to then we only used shortwave radio. Hmm…" Kurt paused again and another grating noise rattled the workbench. "In any event, the radio I fixed for you should be able to receive the frequency on that channel precisely when you are beneath the Ruins of Alph. That'll be your cue to stop following the underground river upstream, and look for an exit."

"What will it sound like?" he asked, peering at what Kurt was working on, but seeing the collection of pieces gathered together was just ambiguous enough to make the new creation an enigma.

"Oh trust me," Kurt grabbed a big pair of goggles and a set of thick gloves from the workbench's draw, "you'll know when you hear it. Won't sound anything like the static you'll get elsewhere." He put the googles over his eyes, wrapped their strap over his head with a satisfied snap, and picked up a small welder to light a bright blue flame. "It'll be sounding like Pokemon cries more than anything else. As long as you remember that and frequency 13.5, you should be good… There, that should do it."

"Whoa, what's that thing supposed to be?"

"Careful, it's still hot," Kurt warned. "I haven't given it a name yet. You gave me an idea though when you told me about the device Cipher engineered to tamper with electronics from afar."

"Oh?"

"I think I was able to replicate a similar effect with this gun. It's nowhere near as powerful or as devastating, but it's portable which is important for you."

"This gun is able to mimic the electronic interference Cipher created?!" Feyera exclaimed in wonder. It was barely the size of a Gauntlet model firearm that Team Rocket members typically carried with them. It had all the quirky qualities of a make-shift weapon, being jury-rigged by Kurt in such a way where its barrel had conflicting plates of red and white along with a jet black handle probably taken from an aforementioned Gauntlet.

"It's far from perfect I'd say, but I think it will get the job done." Kurt smacked the gun's handle and a small cartridge popped out from below. "See this? It runs on battery so you'll have to recharge it with electricity. It'll hold a few charges; I'd reckon five, maybe a weak sixth shot if you have enough juice stored up. But, yes, a direct hit in theory will be able to hamper a target's small mechanical devices by overloading their circuit boards."

"Wow, that's incredibly useful!"

"Well, don't thank me yet since there are a few kinks in its design I couldn't iron out. First and foremost, you'll have to be especially accurate with this weapon because it has no way to fire in bursts and takes a good ten seconds to recharge after a shot. Furthermore, Pokéballs and devices of similar size are particularly difficult to hit at a distance – especially if they're in transit. Not to mention the device's range is probably limited since I didn't have an amplifier lying around. Anyway, enough theory, let's go give it a test!" Kurt swung around and picked up the device, rushing back out to the hallway. With excitement, he placed a small Pokéball and an Apricorn atop a table and then walked back twenty paces. "Here goes," Kurt said. Taking aim at the Pokéball first, he clicked the trigger and a faint blue spark ejected from the tip of the weapon's jagged mouth. He lowered the gun and walked over to the table on the other side of the hall. He grabbed the Pokéball and tossed it onto the ground as if he were releasing a fictional Pokemon from its stasis. Upon hitting the polished wooden floorboards it opened without a hitch. "Nothing happened. Damn," he said. "Must've missed."

"Give it to me to try then."

"Go for it," Kurt said as he handed it off after setting up the range again, "but first give it a sec to recharge. Count to ten."

"Okay," Feyera said taking the gun. It was lightweight and easy to aim with, having a comfortable firearm grip cushioned in neatly wrapped insulating tape. There was one protruding nail-head that seemed to work as a center, though he doubted that it was intentionally placed there as an aiming apparatus. "Not a problem," he said aiming it at the Pokéball and focusing his mind on striking the target with precision. His heart jumped as he pulled the trigger back, another quiet blue flash projected from the gun. This time however, the Pokéball began to show a few tiny sparks.

"Oh ho ho," Kurt laughed. "Looks like we've got a sharpshooter. Wait a moment, then try for the Apricorn on the right."

"Mmm," Feyera nodded, this time taking aim at the funny shaped berry sitting next to the Pokéball. Again he tapped into a state of focus and shot directly at the Apricorn. The faint blue light flashed, but to his surprise nothing happened to the ball though his aim was true. "What?!" he exclaimed with a glare of frustration. "I hit it!"

Kurt chuckled. "You sure did, but the Apricorn has no electrical circuitry to exploit. The metal provides framework for the spheres but they don't use circuits to open and close. Being a plant, the Apricorn's Thigmonasty causes them to open and close based on sensory triggers, similar to a Carnivine's mouth."

"That means…!"

"That's right," Kurt said. "If you use Apricorns, you'll be able to immunize your Pokemon from Cipher's energy manipulating weapon since there's no chipset inside them. I highly doubt they've considered the defensive use of Apricorns since most people today only travel with Pokéballs in tow."

"Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" he said appreciatively. "With this gun you fastened together, I'll be able to give them a taste of their own medicine." Feyera walked over to the table and grabbed the Pokéball that had been hit. When he grabbed it, the ball gave him a brief, yet unpleasant shock – like static electricity when touching metal after walking on a carpet. "Yeah this one was hit, that's for sure. I just felt a small jolt from touching it." He threw the ball on the ground, and to his amazement the ball would not open. "How long you think the effect will last?"

"Dunno," shrugged Kurt. "You'd need to field-test that. Could be a couple seconds, could be up to an hour before it the ball finally resets the internal board; it would depend a lot on the model of the Pokéball you're targeting. Expect the higher classes of Pokéballs to reset much quicker."

"This is truly remarkable craftwork, Kurt. I'm impressed by your tenacity in putting it together from an idea."

"Ah, now let's not be too hasty… this is still just a prototype after all. We didn't even give it a name."

Feyera gave the gun a good look over. He felt its weight and noted the nuance of the relatively quiet firing mechanism, which was a far different feeling than a typical Gauntlet series and definitely whisper quiet and compact compared to RAIL guns. The electrical weapon's recoil was non-existent, which was perfect since he lacked the frame to absorb such bursts; heck, even Sana could probably manage a way to use it if she had to. It was crude, but effective at what it was designed to do as an interference weapon. "How about the Pomson?" he said finally.

"I like it," Kurt said with a grin. "The Pomson Mark One it is!"

With that resolved, Kurt gave Feyera an assortment of Apricorns he had crafted. He explained to him the seven types of Apricorn and their respective end-products: the Fast Ball, the Friend Ball, the Heavy Ball, the Level Ball, the Love Ball, the Lure Ball, and finally the Moon Ball.

Feyera thanked him for all of his help.

"Don't mention it." Kurt replied coolly, "Just go make Fredrick proud. Give Team Rocket the old what-for."

"That I can do," he said. "Sana! Come on, we're leaving."

Feyera could have sworn he heard her laughing as he walked over to the room downstairs where she and Maisy had been playing. "Guess she must have been all right with kids after all," he muttered.

* * *

><p>=========\/\/========

* * *

><p>After they had left, there was a secure quietness that filled the house atop the hill. Kurt, having recently disabled the mines surrounding his house so Feyera could leave, was still standing sentry overseeing his land. There was much on his mind, and he wondered whether he had done the right thing by sending Feyera off without disclosing everything.<p>

Suddenly there was a light rustling coming from the foyer of the house's interior. Kurt swiftly turned around with a confused look on his face. "Maisy?" he called out. "Maisy, is that you I hear?"

Instead of the little girl, there was a small creature floating through the central hallway of the house. It was diminutive in frame, shaped like a pixie. It had large eyes reminiscent of clear blue streams, which coordinated with the tips of its two antennae above those eyes. Light green leaves that matched its body color danced magically in the air close around it.

"I had a lot of fun, Kurt!" it said with a playful beam. "But I'm curious, why didn't you tell him about the future I foresaw?"

Kurt furrowed his brow. "I didn't tell him because he's not Mew."

The tiny creature shook its head and spun about, flying in a small circle with its transparent wings. "That doesn't change the decision he'll still have to make."

"I know."

"Then why didn't you choose to warn him about my Future Sight?"

Kurt took a deep breath and gazed out at the horizon. The large mountains in the distance loomed ominously before them both. "Because I believe he'll find a way in the end. And it will be his own way – not yours, and certainly not mine. With those Pokemon he has at his side, I believe he'll find a way to overcome the trial."

"They're just average Pokemon though," it said with a carefree flutter. "Not even legendary as would surely befit this situation. They might not live long enough to see the truth revealed to them."

Kurt shook his head. "Who he brings with him on this trial is his own decision. That's not up to me."

"Of course it's not," it said cheekily. "You're clearly stuck here with me."

"True. But rest assured, this time the outcome will not be up to you either."

"You really think that will change anything?" the little Pokemon said as it danced about near the house's rafters. "I'm never wrong. And with me as your guardian Pokemon, you don't ever have to be wrong either."

"Mmm, but that's the thing; I want to be proven wrong about this."

"Well, not telling him everything was certainly unprecedented."

"Actually it was not unprecedented from his perspective. I told him everything that I know is actually true. I'm clearly old; I can only disclose the past since that alone is definite, actual truth. And moreover, he reminded me of something when I asked him what truth really is."

"Oh?"

"He reminded me that I have no right to speak of things which have yet to transpire, because such things are not actually true until they happen," Kurt explained. "Having faith in something you believe is true might very well give you the courage to keep on fighting for that truth, but when all your sureness is taken away, when you have nothing left to believe in, that's when there's nothing left but muddled doubt."

"Oh."

"Besides, had I said more than I did, he may well have changed his mind."

"You humans are all so silly," teased the little Pokemon. "That's why you have me. With my power, the future is an open book to you."

"An open book you say?" Kurt shut his eyes for a moment, reflecting as the orange sun slowly sank behind the forest's tall canopy to the west. "That implies that it can be changed in the present moment before it is closed. Hmm, maybe we're not as silly as you think, old friend."

"Hee hee, maybe, maybe not. Time will tell."

"Indeed it will."


	8. Land of Beauty and Memories

**Chapter 8: Land of Beauty and Memories**

* * *

><p>Low in the sky, the late sun hung barely above the forest's thick canopy. The fading orange light illuminated the worn mountain path beyond Azalea. It was a peaceful early evening; the wind had died down and now only the softness of footsteps broke the silence on the quiet trial heading east.<p>

Like many areas of Johto, the region around Azalea was sparsely populated by people. Most of the scenery was simply pure, beautiful countryside. While walking, there was no sign of any local inhabitants besides the occasional hoot of a Pokemon and the gentle flutter of wings. The mountain air was cool with the change of the seasons, feeling fresh and rather invigorating.

As the path continued on toward the large mountain ahead it became slightly less linear. It was covered in old cobblestone and had a few dips along the way, but for the most part would still be serviceable by utility vehicles. However, there was no apparent sign of any recent such activity on the winding roadway.

While the last stretches of daylight began fading, clouds began to form overhead. Their lofty peaks reached high up, far into the changing sky. Their substantial, lofty peaks reached high up into the changing sky, mirroring the much more jagged mountain tops. The sun's setting light made the clouds appear orange in color, complemented by the rocky slabs of earth that extended up below them. A very light breeze passing through was cool and crisp rustling through the dense forest's changing leaves on this late autumn afternoon.

Eventually there was a major bend in the pathway, revealing a wide, yet rather uninteresting cave mouth behind the trees. It had appeared out of nowhere since the sharp turn had been concealed by the dense forest. Engraved on a faded sign dimly lit by the last rays of light were the words "Union Cave Southern Entrance" followed by a group of simple symbols that represented a cave. Beyond the wooden board was a small slope that led gradually into a dim cave mouth.

"Bingo. Looks like we're here," Feyera said examining the sign from a distance.

"_It wasn't difficult to find,"_ she replied, acknowledging the obvious._ "There are people here right?"_

"Yes."

Sanaria shook her head with concern, her green hair blowing in the gentle breeze. _"Something about it seems off."_

"Oh?" he asked.

"_Mmm, I don't know how to explain it. It's not like I can say I've been here before, but it feels strangely familiar." _

He looked at her blankly, unable to fathom what she was talking about. "If I recall correctly, you grew up in Hoenn and traveled to the Sevii Islands, Sana. How can this cave feel familiar to you?"

"_It's not that. No. Not the cave itself. It's that feeling you get when you're about to meet someone again. Someone you've met before."_

"That doesn't make much sense. This is your first time in Johto isn't it?"

"_Yes. …And it's your first time as well, right?"_ she asked with an emphasis on the question.

He couldn't remember for sure. It certainly felt new to him, though he imagined he had seen photographs of the countryside. Wait! That was it – photographs.

It came back in a rush of thought. She had curly, sunshine-kissed strawberry hair and a cheerful smile with little dimples on her rosy cheeks from grinning. She sure was happy a lot, wasn't she? Her lighthearted, bubbly laughter was the next thing which came to mind. The way her dainty caramel colored eyes shone brightly when she first explained to him that not all girls raised outside of Kanto were "bumpkins" - contrary to what he had once been convinced of prior to making her acquaintance in a laboratory. He recalled her scent, a unique perfume she wore, the warm mixture of vanilla, creamy coconut, and beachy gardenia.

Finally, he remembered her showing him pictures of her hometown, which unsurprisingly shared remarkable resemblance to this region. Where, or better yet, when was that memory from? Was it from when he left Kanto's metropolis to work on the Progenitor Project with Cipher? Must have been around that time, right before the memories began to grow blurry. Was she the same person he kept on having vivid dreams about even after reuniting with Sana? It had to be her, all these memories of her felt so incredibly visceral. What on earth was her name again…?

"_What's wrong?"_ Sana asked.

"I…uh, don't think I have any contacts that currently live out here," he said as he scratched his head. "Erm…Besides, isn't this your feeling – not mine?"

"_It's hard to tell sometimes because of your heart being connected to mine."_

"Right, I almost forgot about that being a side effect." However, in truth he hadn't forgotten about it, and was rather fascinated by the concept of shared thought though he'd never admit it to her. "Well, it could just be your imagination." He looked around, but the only noise came from the chirping of crickets nearby. "You have a particularly active one, right?"

"_Yeah,"_ she eventually agreed with a half-smile. _"You're probably right. But this feeling that I have here in my heart, I can't seem to shake it."_

"Let's set up here for now," he said with a point. "We'll move off to the side of the road in case anyone decides to come by."

With a nod, she followed him into the thicket. _"This area of the woods is a lot like the Forests of Petals where I have my first memories." _

"You mean outside Petalburg City in Hoenn?" he asked.

"_I suppose, if that's what it you want to call it. You humans probably only know it as that name, but to me and my kin the region is simply called Home in everyday speech." _

"Sounds confusing if all of you refer to where you live as Home. What would you say to a Gardevoir that lived halfway across the globe?"

"_It's not like our community deals with other Gardevoir. The others… - I guess that includes me now too, doesn't it? - They have their own traditions, many of which conflict with the rituals we had to follow within Home. One of which is to avoid interaction with the rest of the world in order to protect Home."_

"Must've gotten a little lonely in its own way then."

"_It was,"_ Sana agreed. _ "Which is why we left. The first few weeks were eye-opening. I never dealt with the humans that lived close by, much less observed them. I was taught that your kind should be completely avoided, especially so if there was more than one person present since two minds are significantly more difficult to deal with than one." _

"You make it sound like all people are bad news."

"_Well, they're certainly more difficult to avoid and trick using telepathy when they're gathered together in groups." _She smiled._ "That's similar to us actually." _

"You never interacted with humans before me?"

"_There was this one old man who lived nearby with a ship but that's about it."_

"Huh, so that's how you learned about traversing water?"

"_I saw him do it over and over. Day after day, I would watch him calmly from a distance. I was only a Kirlia then, and a rebellious one at that. One day I finally decided to act it out along with Seph. Thankfully he didn't ever manage to catch us!"_ she said with a laugh. _"Then again, that was the last we ever saw of Home. We followed the coastline using his memories – and dreams to guide the way, but eventually the vessel began acting on its own."_

"Must've triggered an ARMOS program. You know, a computer captain guided by satellites."

"_Whatever it was, I thought it to be possessed. If it weren't for Seph, I surely would have jumped off. It was nearly a day of traveling on the bedeviled contraption before we had reached a large mass of land in a sea of clearest blue. The tropics were always different with all the palms and large plants with thick leaves and huge flowers. It makes me nostalgic to think about the old woods from my memories."_

"There's your answer then. You obviously miss your home, and that's why the wood forest here reminds you of it," he concluded. He was honestly more concerned about his own memories of the mysterious strawberry haired girl haunting his dreams. If only he could remember her name! Doing so was like trying to see through a heavy fog that completely enveloped his once recognizable world.

When they were still within sight of the cave's entrance, but no longer on its direct path, he took a knee and began rummaging through his worn pack. There were things still in here that he had forgotten about, a few potions, some fishing string, and even an old cap. "I really need to clean this thing out," he said plunging his hands deeper. "When we make our move, I'd like to make sure I'm not carrying too much baggage."

"_We're going to go into the cave at night?"_ Sana asked with a hint of anxiety in her voice.

"Not going to be much difference whether it's day or night once we're inside. There are several advantages to a nighttime operation; namely, it's more likely that we'll be able to get the drop on Team Rocket if we play our cards right since we'll have the element of surprise. However, -" he fished out his new Apricorns from the pack with a smile "- I first wanted to get a consensus from my Pokemon."

"_Wait, what about what I think we should do?"_ she asked with a look of jealousy.

He loosened the Pokéballs resting on his holster and answered her with a laugh. "But you're technically not my Pokemon, remember?"

Sana crossed her arms at that and pouted, kicking a small stone on the ground. _"You're right. If you think I'm going to let you catch me, think again."_

"I wasn't planning on that actually," he smiled innocently. "In fact, I was going to ask what they thought since I need to switch them over into Apricorns anyway."

"_Wait,"_ she grabbed his shoulder which startled him. Her hand was warm and her gaze unwavering as she stared into his eyes. Those deep cherry eyes of hers seemed to pierce into his very being.

"Uh, yeah?" he asked with a puzzled look. "What's the matter…?"

"_Isn't it important what I think we should do?"_ she finally said with a bat of her eyelashes.

"Sure, sure," he said removing her hand from his shoulder gently. "But let's face it, there's more Pokemon involved than just you."

Sana looked like something inside of her had snapped, and she quickly twirled around on her heel. _"Fine! Go ahead, ask your Pokemon. They'll probably come up with a better idea than anything YOU can think of on your own."_

"You're in a bit of a mood right now. However, if you have a suggestion…" he said as he began to fidget impulsively from the air of uncomfortableness between them, "…I'll hear it."

"_A suggestion? From me?"_ she let out a short laugh. _"Why would you care about that? I'm not your Pokemon." _

"To be honest," he said sitting up, "it really depends on how useful the suggestion actually is. It sounds like you have a thought, so I'm giving you a chance to tell me about it before I consult the rest of the team for their input."

"_Pfft." _ Sana brought her hand up to cover part of her face. It was an unusual gesture, but he noticed she did it more often when fretted, though he did not know exactly what it meant._ "First of all, I'm the only Pokemon that's actually been aware of everything going on. The others have been in stasis, trapped the prison you humans call the Pokéball." _

"It isn't like that though," he retorted thinking about what Kurt had told him. Something about Pokéballs and Pokemon being two sides of the same coin, but he doubted he could articulate the concept in an eloquent fashion to Sana while she was in this state of emotion.

"_It isn't?" _she glared. _ "They haven't been in the world and experiencing it like you and I have!"_

"True, but they're also in a state where they don't need to expend any energy like you and I," he said trying to parrot what Kurt had told him about energy storage. "Don't you need to rest at times?"

"_Of course I need to rest; that's why I sleep, just like you do. However, I don't want to ever disappear from the world. What about you? Do you want to disappear…? Or worse —"_ She then pointed menacingly at his heart. _"Have you ever considered what'll happen if the other half of the heart in your chest suddenly turned into energy imprisoned inside a capsule?"_

"Sana, I don't think it works that way," he said masking the uncontrollable feeling of worry she had prompted. Honestly, he had no idea how any of it worked. All his theories and conjectures had been turned upside down when experience contradicted reality in unusual ways.

"_Face it, thas Feyera. You don't know anything with total certainty." _

"Which is precisely why I struggle to figure it out!" he replied raising his voice in a firm manner. "Like it or not, we're stuck with one another for now. If you want to antagonize me then by all means, do so. I've grown thick enough skin through this journey. But if what you say about our hearts is true, then you're only causing harm to yourself indirectly."

She was taken aback by the sincere reply. Appearing speechless at first, she quickly gathered her thoughts and said, _"In both of our best interests, I think we should find a way that doesn't involve going out of your way, helping every helpless human you meet. Do you see me stopping to help every destitute little Caterpie? Why?! What do you owe them anyway?"_

"Sana…" he started to say with a stern voice to admonish her lack of compassion, but soon he trailed off after hearing a small sniffle coming from her. Was she crying? He couldn't tell since her face was turned away, but it sounded like she was genuinely upset about something and was lashing out. "…You had fun with Maisy, didn't you?"

"_Only for a little,"_ she replied sheepishly._ "But I still haven't forgiven you for using me like that, you know!"_

"I wasn't using you though, Sana. I thought you'd be caring enough to help that poor little girl, and maybe learn more about people at the same time."

"_Oh please!" _she said straightening her posture. _ "You only wanted me to occupy that little child that was pestering you. Well, the joke is on you, thas Feyera. I had an enlightening experience, despite your efforts to try and use me."_

"You did?" he said in a surprised voice.

"_Oh yes,"_ she said quickly looking the other way._ "I learned humans aren't all idiots like you. No, instead, they grow up to become idiots!"_

"Well now, that certainly isn't too nice," he replied with a frown. "Still, I'm impressed you didn't scare Maisy off."

She turned back to face him with a stark look of dissatisfaction on her pale face. _"Are you implying that I'm scary?"_

"Nah, not really," he said trying not to laugh; she might have been frightening when he first met her, but after all spending all this time with her she seemed rather docile. "Although who knows, maybe to a kid you might be. Especially when you make an angry expression like that."

"_Hmm,"_ Sana bit at her lip nervously. _"You're not a child though! So what do you know?"_

"Not much, remember? My childhood memories are in conflict with foreign memories. Some of things I can recall I never personally experienced. Yet, that doesn't really matter in the end: I still know a happy face when I see it. Which is why I'm commending you," Feyera said keenly. "You did a good job back there."

"_I guess if you say so,"_ she began to say half-heartedly but suddenly she stopped to ask, _"wait, that isn't a complement is it?"_

"Oh, don't flatter yourself. I was merely surprised since you have it out against humans." He quickly returned to rummaging through his worn pack. "Honestly, I didn't expect that from you, that's all."

She observed him as he went through his bag and asked with a rising inflection in her tone, _"You want to do something important don't you? Something that goes beyond yourself. That's why you brought us here." _

"What! No, not at all," he said with a tone of resistance. He quickly averted his eyes back to the inside of his pack. "I'm still just in this for the big reward."

"_What reward?"_ she asked acutely. _"You never mentioned a reward before."_

"Oh… Guess you forgot about my master plan!" He let out a burst of satisfied, almost maniacal laughter, "Haha! Then let me educate you once again, Sanaria! First thing's first, I'm going to find a way to undo all of this with the power of Mercurium. It's a matter of heuristics, working backwards from precisely what got me into this whole mess. After I have a grasp on how Mew links to Pokemon, it should be a matter of reversing the biochemical reaction. That shouldn't be a problem if I gather enough of the material to experiment on. Based on what I know, the only real competition also searching for Mercurium would be: Team Rocket, Cipher, and any ambitious Pokéball manufacturer looking to create a flawless Pokéball by using Mew's genetic code. If we follow those leads, we'll find enough of the material for sure. The best bet is Team Rocket since I know they've been extracting Mercurium."

"_Mercurium,"_ she repeated telepathically, then again aloud but softly and barely above a whisper, "Mercurium."

"Yeah, it's supposedly a legendary Pokemon. Or rather, it was a Pokemon." Feyera shrugged, feeling somewhat content with her level of understanding being marginally less than his own. "Either way, it's been dormant for a long time, and only a few samples of its unadulterated genetic code exist buried underground as fossils."

Her eyes opened wide, showing intrigue. _"Isn't that the weird metal you humans are so obsessed with finding since it is only found beneath the ground like gemstones?" _she asked.

"Indeed, it's something simple like that for the mere plebeians who are sent out on their aimless missions to find and extract it from the earth!" He paused for a moment thinking about how outright ignorant Team Rocket members must have been to go searching for such a dangerous unrefined fossil in the depths of Mount Moon.

"_Aren't you doing the same thing though?"_ she asked with an air of seriousness and worry on her face.

"Don't forget, I am privy to information that will make me rise above all those previous attempts to obtain Mercurium!" he said confidently. "Just you wait, you'll see soon enough. Once I usurp Team Rocket's plans here in Johto, I'll undoubtedly have access to even more of the precious compound!"

"_But even if you do manage to do that, is it a good idea?"_ she asked, sincerely worrying he was being used as a pawn.

"Of course it is a good idea, Sana. Don't be hesitant at a crucial time like now. Mercurium is the reason why I'm in the sorry state that I am. If I can gather more of the material, I'll have a tidy supply of my own to experiment on. Then it's only a matter of time before I, the great scientist that I am, decipher its innermost secrets!" he boasted proudly with a flourish. "Once I have all the data neatly complied, it should fetch a worthwhile amount of academic clout when I publish my next dissertation on the subject!"

Sana sighed. _"Why don't you just find an expert on the material? Wouldn't that be a lot easier than going on a pointless quest to find more of it since you don't even know how it works?"_

"Kurt," he said quietly.

"_Excuse me?"_

"Kurt is the closest thing I have to a neutral expert on it. He creates his version of Pokéballs using a derivative of Mercurium that has adapted to grow within special types of plants."

"_Oh. Well… Did you learn anything from him?"_

"Perhaps. It's all just conjecture until I have solid proof in my hands. And only a true scientist can develop knowledge through experimentation."

"_So, you're no closer to separating your human body from the heart?"_ she asked directly.

"Not true!" he said quickly. "In fact I'm closer than I ever was before! If I can find more samples of Mercurium I should be able to undo the binding effects of the fossilized relic of Mew and finally remove this heart from my body once and for all."

"_Really?"_ she asked, but he could not tell whether or not she honestly believed him.

"Of course," he said as certainly as he possibly could. "It's just a matter of time, don't you worry. It will all work out. If what Kurt said is true, Mew is real and there's nothing to worry about."

"_Hmm. You sound like you're only trying to convince yourself of that."_

"Pah, you're just in awe of my abilities!" he said arrogantly. "You'll remember this day as the day you were wrong!"

Sana did not even bother to answer him. She figured when he went off on immature tangents like this it was best to just ignore him for the sake of her own sanity. He claimed to have grown since the onset of his journey, and yet this overconfident aspect of him never seemed to change. At the very least it helped her to recognize and distinguish him from her previous companion.

"Ah ha! Thanks to Lorelei packing extra Pokéballs on her yacht, these replacements were able to work out just fine. It was shielded from Cipher's energy weapon, so the replacements are still in working order."

"_How wonderful…"_ she muttered sarcastically.

"However, in order to protect them from weapons that cause electronic interference, I'll need to switch everyone over to Apricorns. That's the safest bet."

Sana rolled her large eyes. She still watched him fiddle with the devices out of curiosity. He lined the three Pokéballs in a neat row and placed the Apricorns directly adjacent to the sphere in their centers making it look like they were kissing lips. One by one, he pressed down on both and a beam of light shot from one into the other. If Sana was not so adverse to the idea, she might have found it fascinating since the beams of light, although short, were composed of all the different colors of a rainbow.

"Okay. That should do it, the transfer is complete," he said happily. "Now to test it out… Go, Brucie!"

A flash of light surrounded the sphere as the Apricorn ball made contact with the earth below it. A familiar Pokemon took shape from the release of stored energy.

[Boss!] the Pokemon said excitedly with a big smile.

"Welcome back, Brucie," Feyera said with a warm grin. But then he felt compelled to ask a question that was burning inside his brain. "Say Brucie, when I sent you into the Pokéball, did time pass for you?"

[Time…?] The Charmeleon looked at his trainer quizzically with bright blue eyes. [Uhh…]

"Do you remember being inside of the Pokéball?" Feyera asked as straight as he could. "Could you count while you were inside?"

Sana gave him a shove and said coldly, _"Why would you ask him that? He's been trapped in there while the two of us have been experiencing the world!"_

Brucie gave a small leer. [Glad to see things haven't changed at all between the two of you. I wasn't really trapped anywhere, Sana. It was more like I was always ready to go but I didn't need to. I don't think I've changed one bit since the boss gave me a new Pokéball to return to.]

"What'd I tell you?" he spiritedly rebuked. "Brucie's fine. From his perspective, he didn't even feel any time passing. Haha. Look at you. You're a bona fide time traveler, Brucie!"

[Sometimes it's a little disorienting though.] He looked around at the trees, extending his short claws menacingly at the unfamiliar environment. [Say, where the heck are we anyway, boss?]

"Oh…" Feyera felt an unpleasant knot form in his throat. Brucie had last seen the tropical palm trees in the distance as they rode away from Penta Island on the Prima. To him, no time had passed at all since after the battle with Cipher. In other words, his subjective experience had been changed completely by the Pokéball.

Brucie stretched his short arms into the air and let out a yawn. [I guess it doesn't really matter. At least things seem calm now.]

"Yeah," Feyera answered hoarsely. "Things are a bit different now, that's true buddy."

Sana's ensuing glare was a sharp as a dagger. _"And you're going to ask him what to do about Team Rocket?"_

[Team Rocket?] Brucie exclaimed with a jump. He raised his claws and menacingly slashed at the air. [Where?! I'll take 'em on!]

"Hush, Sana," Feyera said disparagingly. Then he turned his attention back to Brucie, who was still swinging his nails and exposing his healthy set of sharp teeth. "There's no need to get excited just yet, buddy. Team Rocket is in the Union Cave, which is over there. See?"

[Okay,] Brucie lowered his claws, albeit not without a hint of trepidation Feyera and Sana could pick up on. [What's the play?] he asked. [I thought we were up against Cipher.]

"Well… where to even begin? We were after Cipher that's true, but now our priorities have shifted in response to some new information…" his voice trailed off as he heard a faint noise in the distance. Actually, noises. The sounds of human voices talking to each other. "Shh!" he urged.

The three of them huddled close together by a nearby berry bush. Sanaria's short dress helped to conceal the small flame Brucie's tail was emitting. From a distance, the three of them were about as conspicuous as a Volbeat's taillight.

* * *

><p>====================================

* * *

><p>Gradually, a crew of four people approached the cave's entrance. There was a little bit of laughter, and judging by their body frames two of them were definitely female. All of them were garbed in jet black clothing. The two men were carrying what appeared to be large cloth bags over their shoulders. They looked pretty heavy based on the way their backs were slumped over.<p>

"Nother good haul, eh?" said one of the men in a low voice. He sported a crew-cut, though some of his brown hair had receded. On top of his sweater, he had a large dark overcoat with a number of pockets. While he was tall in statute, his posture was slumped from the article he was carrying on his back. It was difficult to see his face however based on the way he was facing toward the cave's mouth.

"You'll write a report that this extraction was filed twice, right?" one of the women beside him muttered. She was lanky and held a Pokéball in her thin hand. Her hair was tied in a short blonde bun, and she had bright teal eyes. "That way we'll receive that juicy bonus," she squealed with excitement.

"No shit," replied the first man. He let out a dry laugh that sounded more like a wheeze. "This job pays peanuts if you don't game the figures!"

"I'll be out of this hell soon enough," the other man said with a dark look on his face. "Gotta pay off my next loan installment to the Boss. Good thing I've got contacts outside of the country."

The fourth member of the group, a petite red-haired girl finally spoke up, "You'll never get out, Harrison. If you pay off your debt, there's always some other favor he'll ask of you. And you won't be able to refuse."

"Ha," the man replied with an air of resentfulness uncannily similar to Feyera. "That's what you think, Red. But I have a plan, see? In the end, Harrison will no longer exist. I'll make myself a new identity, move out to Mossdeep or somewhere warm, settle down, have a few kids, and be free from the grip of this crime ring once and for all."

"Lofty dreams," replied the other man with a grumble. He appeared to be struggling more with carrying his load. "You'll never be able to get out in one piece. Even if you do, they'll probably send agents looking for you; Hoenn isn't too far away. No one truly ever leaves Team Rocket."

The first man suddenly threw his sack down on the ground at the cave's entrance with a loud thud. The three other people appeared shocked by his action. But he did not express aggressive behavior, instead speaking slowly and carefully, "I know you guys want out as well. That's why we're friends here, see? If y'all were narcs, I wouldn't want the first thing to do with you. I can smell a filthy rat from a mile away."

The blonde quickly piped up, "Who's to say we won't rat on you, Harrison? You're new identity could be worth a sizable bounty. Might even help us pay off our own debts to the Boss."

"Heh," Harrison laughed with a wide smile unconcealed by his thick brown facial hair. "That's what I like about you, Trish. You're never afraid to say it as it is."

"It's not like I give a rat's ass about you or anything," she replied with a flustered look.

"I know you don't. That's the thing. None of us really have a reason to care. Look at the shit we do just to get paid," Harrison sighed. "Doesn't matter though. If there's a way to slip on out, you can bet your bacon I'll be taking it. Proton, Ariana, Petrel be damned."

"You shouldn't say stuff like that, bud," replied the cool and collected other man. "You never know who might be reporting to the Executives."

"Hah," Harrison laughed directing his attention to the other man in the group. "You're a real funny-bone, you know that? If it comes down to any of you guys having loose lips, I'll make sure to slit your throats myself. Don't need a new identity and a Mossdeep Condo to do that now, do I?"

The four of them shared a brief laugh as Harrison picked up his load again. With a grunt, he led them into the cave. "C'mon, it's getting dark. We'll log this as a two-for-one since that damn secretary is probably sleeping on the clock again."

* * *

><p>====================================

* * *

><p>Brucie, Sana, and Feyera waited silently until the last sounds of their trailing voices were extinguished.<p>

Sana affectionately patted Brucie on the head since he was starting to tremble from the cool night air. [What's going on, boss?] he asked clutching at his clothes in order to get attention.

Feyera scratched his chin, pondering the situation carefully. He then nodded triumphantly. "Fortune smiles on us yet again! I'd say we've found our marks. Proton, Ariana, and Petrel were the names that grunt, Harrison, mentioned. They're likely to be around here overseeing the operation since that's how the chain of command usually works."

"_Do you know them!?"_ Sana asked quickly as she grabbed his shoulder.

"…!" The question caught him more off-guard than her hand squeezing his arm. For a brief second he wondered, did he know them at one point? "I don't think so." Feyera turned back to Brucie, "Say, do you remember what that Archer character told me back in Celadon?"

Brucie spat a small ember on the dirt. [Yeah, what about that jerk?!]

"He said something about me being a part of their plan, but that's no longer possible," he said looking around, feeling paranoid. "There's no way for Team Rocket to still have their claws in my life. I'm on my own now; I don't answer to Team Rocket anymore."

Brucie could tell he was upset. [Well, he might've been trying to tick you off since you had a history with them. Didn't you used to do some real dirty work for them way back when?]

Feyera sighed. He had no idea if he would ever figure it out, and yet he had no choice but to keep moving forward into the unfamiliar darkness. Quickly the surge to construct his own identity overtook him. "Ah haha. That's where you're gravely mistaken, Brucie. I wasn't a mere lackey. Oh no, I was an important scientist! Doctor Feyera! Truthfully, they were incredibly foolish to let me just slip away! And tonight they shall rue the day they let me escape."

Sana let out an exacerbated sigh. _"We all know you're absurdly self-conscious, thas Feyera." _

"What!? Nonsense! I am anything but self-conscious!" he said with an uncompromising look of determination in his emerald eyes. "It's because of me that Team Rocket began extracting Mercurium in the first place."

"_That's nothing to be proud of!"_ Sana scolded, taking a quick swat at his heart.

"It is what it is," he said wincing in surprise. "Hopefully they've gathered enough of the fossilized Mew data by now, which I will gladly relieve them of."

Brucie shook his head. [You know boss, a lot of times you say these big words with that wild look on your face. But sometimes I don't even know what they mean.]

"_He's basically saying he's going to steal whatever they have,"_ Sana clarified.

[Well they're crooks, so they probably stole it to begin with. Guess that means stealing is not as bad as it usually is.] Brucie appeared to be truly torn over the ethics of this plan. [Are you sure this is a good idea?]

"Brucie, you are my trusted assistant in this matter, I require your full support and attention!" Feyera replied with a grin. "If I can't trust you, then who am I to trust? Surely, not this Gardevoir here at my side!"

"_Hey jerk, I'm still here, remember?"_ Sana replied trying to conceal a smile. _"Don't forget I helped you even though I had no obligation to!"_

"Ah, now look what you've done, Brucie. You've gone and angered her!" Feyera proclaimed with a dramatic flourish towards the starless sky.

[S-sorry,] Brucie replied almost instinctually.

"My friend, do not apologize, for Sana does not yet understand the bond we share as Trainer and Pokemon!"

Sana shoved him with a soft telekinetic burst. _"Stop being such an ass, thas Feyera." _

"Ah," he said catching himself before toppling over. "It appears that we're on our way now. To discover Team Rocket's intentions here in the Union Cave. For that very reason, I need your help Brucie!"

[Lemme guess… You need a light?] he asked with a slight flicker of his flaming tail.

"Well… it would certainly be beneficial to have illumination whilst traversing such a dark and foreboding cave, would it not?"

[Alright, alright, I'm on it. Just cut it out with the big words boss,] he said eagerly as the flame on the tip of his tail became a brighter red. [All you have to do is call me your torch, cause I'll be shining up this whole dark place with my fire!]

"That's my Brucie!" Feyera said with a lighthearted laugh. "We're a team here no matter what. Team Rocket's got nothing on this."

Sana could not help but smile. This was the carefree and energetic man she had known. Even if he was delusional, she still saw something about his will to interact with Pokemon which was an unfamiliar aspect of humanity to her. At the very least, it was intriguing to watch.

Brucie gave Sana and Feyera a thumbs up. [I'm always here to help you two out, and don't you forget it!]

"I'd never forget," he said directing his gaze at Sana. "I don't want to forget."

"_You said before that your memories were in conflict. What did you mean by that?"_

"Oh, yeah. That. It's just a strange sensation I get sometimes. Usually occurs when trying to remember things that took place a long while ago. It feels like I've been in two different places at once sometimes."

"_You don't say," _Sana haphazardly answered, but her mind was clearly elsewhere deep in thought.

"Chalk it up as another affect of your unwarranted Hypnosis."

"_I did what I could to try and stabilize your heart considering you probably would have died,"_ she replied. _"Was I wrong to do that?"_

"Only you can answer that," he said resolutely.

"_Huh?"_ She expected some half-baked explanation as to why his life was absolutely necessary for the progress of science, or something a similar caliber of grandiose delusion.

"I'm thankful you made that choice, since now it gives me a chance to prove that I can change. Isn't that something people and Pokemon have in common? We're both seeking out way of overcoming the law of nature that was imprinted and forced upon them. That's something you strive to achieve as well, right?"

"_That came out of nowhere,"_ she said in surprise. _"And…it sounds completely unrealistic when you say it like that!"_

"Just…answer the question," he insisted with a serious expression.

"_But I don't understand why you're even asking it. And why are you asking ME that question?"_

"I'm just wondering: why are you the way that you are?"

Sana immediately recoiled. _"I'm just who I am. Isn't that enough?"_

"That type of answer is something I'd expect from a human, not you," he laughed. With that being said, he turned towards the cave and began to walk. "My mind is made up. We'll make our move now."


End file.
